joining us this week is craig aaron who is president and ceo of free press and former fcc commissioner robert mcdowel. commissioner mcdowel, can the fcc put the stops on the merger? >> guest: absolutely. sometimes when mergers have been were proposed in the past and we would here that is unthinkable but that hasn't happened yet so they have not put the kibosh on it yet. >> host: do you think the fcc should stop this merger? >> guest: i think the better question is will it. and i don't think it will. i am in a think tank now with a hudson institute so i am looking at this objectively not as a commissioner. you don't have to keep calling me commissioner by the way. but it isn't like i will kercar on these titles forever. but it could be fewed to implement public policy the fcc might not be able to do as quickly. this happens with big mergers of this type. you have the largest cable company buying the second larnl largest. the big hurdle, and i mean legal big hurdle, and comcast agreed to a lot of stringent orders for net nutrality and the shared content they owned and pricing and build o

joining us on "the communicators" this week to discuss this, craig aaron, who is president and ceo of free press, and former fcc commissioner rocket mcdowell -- robert mcdowell. commissioner mcdowell, can the fcc put the kibosh on comcast/time warner cable mergersome. >> guest: oh, it could, absolutely. and the department of justice could try to do so as well. sometime in the past when mergers have been proposed not necessarily at the announcement stage we've heard words such as unthinkable. they haven't put the kibosh on it just yet, and the application, i don't think, has even been filed at the fcc. but, sure, as a matter of law, its ability, it could deny the merger if it wanted to. >> host: from what you've read about this, do you think the fcc should stop this merrier? >> guest: well, so, actually, i think the better question is will it. and i don't think it will. and, you know, i'm in a think tank now, the hudson institute, so i have in dog in the fight. so trying to look at objectively, not as a commissioner in my past role, and you don't have to keep calling me commissioner an

craig aaron, we should talk about net neutrality.ernet is important to both of these companies? >> this deal in many ways is all about broadband. it's the future. comcast is the nation's largest internet service provider. time warner cable as a big footprint as we talked about earlier. so in the end, i think in many ways, this is about broadband. this is about an effort by companies like comcast to keep typing that product, a very profitable company to them to their television services. if they can keep you subscribing to keep the content you want to see online, that's good for their business. for most americans, compacable companies and this cable company might be their only option. not in every market but in most places if you want truly high-speed internet, you are talking about the cable company. if this happens, that company will be comcast. >> how does net neutrality and the rules and the debate about the future of the regulation of the internet play into this corporate merger, baron? >> it's a red herring for two reasons. comc

craig aaron, we should talk about net neutrality. the internet is very important. >> broadband is the future, comcast is the largest internet service provider, time warner cable add as big footprint, as we talked about earlier. so in the end, this is about broadband, to keep tying that broad band product, a very profitable product for them, to their television services. if they can keep you sub vising to cable, in order to get the content you want to see that's very good for their business. for most americans this cable company may be their only option for high speed broadband. not in every market, but in most places. this deal happens that will be comcast. >> how does net neutrality and the rules and the debate about the future of the regulation, pray into this corporate merger? >> well, the it is a red herring for two reasons. comcast is subject to the rules. they agreed to that, and that condition runs until 2018, they may extend it here, even if they don't, they didn't really lose the case, they simply had the order struck down.

craig aaron is on "the communicators close vote this week to discuss this. fcc put the kebabs 0-- kibosh on the merger? >> it may try to do so. in the past, when mergers have been proposed, we have heard words come from the fcc like, that would be unthinkable. that has not happened yet. they have not let the kibosh on it yet. i do not think the paperwork has been filed. but they could deny the merger if they want to. i do you think the fcc should stop this merger? >> will it? i do not think it well. i am at a think tank right now. i have no dog in this fight. i tried to look at this objectively, not as a commissioner. you do not have to keep calling me mission or by the way. -- commissioner, by the way. it can be viewed as an opportunity to implement public all estate -- how policy. this happens frequently a big mergers. you have the largest cable company buying the second largest cable company. comcast is the largest video distributor and one of the largest comcast asked content companies. -- content companies. a big hurdle with them was the integration wit

. >> host: craig aaron, do you agree with robert mcdowell that it is time to rewrite the telecommunications laws in the country? >> guest: i think we should go back and look at the '96 act and enforce that. that should be the starting point for a conversation about bringing the laws up to date. >> guest: it says the internet should be unfettered by state or regulations. >> host: robert mcdowell now with the hudson institute and craig aaron president and ceo of free press. >> comes up next, alan greenspan and then after that a discussion about the minimum wage with ceo director and later a panel with former cbo directors. >> we will hear more about the budget cuts for the military on "the washington journal"and then later chris murphy will discuss the political situation in the ukraine and the united states role there. you can join the conversation each morning. >> on tuesday, eric holder will speak live. our coverage starts at 10 a.m. eastern. >> what we are told is there is all kind of sit-ins and demonstrations that occur but they are done by these famous iconic people. it is rosa parks w

craig aaron is on "the communicators close vote this week to discuss this. fcc put the kebabs 0-- kibosh on the merger? >> it may try to do so. in the past, when mergers have been proposed,

. >> craig aaron from free press is the media with watchdog said this will be a disaster for consumersmorning wishing their cable company was better. is that true or not? >> i'm not sure. i'm not sure if consumers frankly really know or care who the provider is as long as they don't feel it through their pockets. if this -- if this merged entity has more bargaining power with content providers then frankly consumers could end up getting better content. >> yeah. because the fear is it means it could jack up the prices. it doesn't necessarily play out in that way. remember, these guys are part of a supply chain. their supply chain is owning content. if a consumer can watch more content for the same price, he's not having a bad deal, i don't think so. >> do they fit? >> i think they are and i think critically they're culturally a good fit pup previously mentioned that there had been another approach, that that approach was not necessarily welcomed and that that was a smaller player. this marriage seems more even handed, more balanced, so the cultural fit will be critical in terms of as i

robert mcdowell, former fcc commissioner now with the hudson institute, and craig aaron, president and ceo of free press. >> c-span, created by america's cable companies 35 years ago and brought to you today as a public service by your television provider. >> and we're live at the kaiser family foundation this morning for remarks from arkansas governor mike bee by here in washington for the national governors' association winter meeting, and this morning he's talking about the impact of the health care law's implementation in his state. this is just getting underway, live coverage on c-span2. >> we determined through various means that by utilizing the private option to which was the ability to take private, to take public medicaid money and buy private insurance with it for exactly same population, requiring exactly the same at least minimum requirements that medicaid expansion would have required, that we were able to save roughly, excuse me, $86, $88, $89 million in general revenue that otherwise would have been spent had we not accepted medicaid expansion in the form of a private o

aaron needs with the world. i knew i rmb the list phone call between the assistant secretary of state in the us investor to craig has created quite a controversy in the colic smug british column as a scarce this btn africa the days to see that it needed boxes till he's not fit for the government was of the other neat and bold one become prime minister. they also mentioned needing the help of the un to get this thing going with whatever that means. although the authenticity of this phone call has not been confirmed but surely hasn't been the night. this reminds me a lot of the stone leaks in the budding journalist for years had been already the government spying. we took a snow didn't shove it in the people's faces and confirm that it was really going on. we've heard from people like ron paul just winter and many journalists that the us state department uses a four year national great receivers and local political organizations try to consciously and directly control sovereign nations and overthrow regimes they don't like that this phone call is legit business same level undeniable evidence that store and bought