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Democratic Senators Urge Rejection of Comcast-Time Warner Deal

Comcast’s least favorite senator, Democrat Al Franken of Minnesota, released a letter Tuesday urging the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission to reject Comcast’s $45 billion deal to acquire Time Warner Cable. He was joined by five other senators, including Democrats Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Notably, no Republicans signed onto the letter, which is mostly symbolic since Congress can’t do anything to block a merger. The letter comes as Comcast* lawyers are expected to meet this week with Justice Department officials about the deal.

Update: A Comcast spokeswoman responded in a statement that the “benefits of the Comcast TWC deal are demonstrated and real,” citing Comcast’s large video-on-demand library, fast broadband speeds and low-income Internet program.

* Comcast owns NBCUniversal, which is a minority investor in Revere Digital, Re/code’s parent company.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.