Comcast wasn’t the only casualty as it walked away from its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable last week. Also going down in defeat was a large platoon of lobbyists who were trying to get the deal done.
According to The Hill, Comcast has 120 lobbyist plying the hallways of Washington DC.
The company is regularly in the top 10 among corporations on the lobbying chart, and weighed in at #8 in 2014 with an expenditure of $17M. It spent another $4.6M in the first quarter of 2015.
It is also a big donor to candidates for federal office. It leaned 60% Democrat in 2012, but according to The Hill favored Republican candidates in the 2014 mid-term.
The PR campaign that was part of the effort to get the deal approved focused on getting broadband service to needy families. It was countered by repeated charges from opponents of the merger citing poor customer service.
