In the company's filing with the FCC opposing the Comcast merger (via Ars Technica), CenturyLink accuses the cable giant of making it difficult to obtain franchise agreements and compete with the company across numerous markets. CenturyLink complains that Comcast has been "uniquely and extraordinarily aggressive" in blocking the telco's expansions into new markets, sending letters to the handful of local franchising authorities where CenturyLink is trying to expand its Prism TV services.

Comcast, historically opposed to local laws requiring even and full deployment of services to entire towns or cities, is pushing to make that a requirement for CenturyLink. To hear Comcast tell it, they're really just worried about redlining and poor people:

quote:

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“We believe competitors should have to live under the same requirements as incumbents, that means no redlining poor communities, no cherry picking of only providing services to wealthier communities – it means service to the entire community. This has been our consistent position, that new entrants should be prepared to live under the same rules we have for decades."

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Of course with the entry of Google Fiber those rules have changed, and redlining (or whatever you'd like to call it) is quite fashionable, with companies like AT&T, CenturyLink and many others now deploying their best, cheapest speeds only to very select markets. It's worth noting CenturyLink is no saint on this front either; the company has waged war against municipal broadband operations for years, and would be making the exact same arguments were they in Comcast's dominant market position.