Consumer groups are cheering the news that Comcast abandoned its proposed US$45 billion acquisition of fellow cable and broadband provider Time Warner Cable, saying it’s good for customers and demonstrates the power of Internet activism.

Comcast’s decision, announced Friday, would have taken away a major cable and broadband provider in the U.S., critics of the deal argued.

“The only competition consumers would have had in their living rooms if this mega-merger had gone forward would be who handles the remote control,” Senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement. “Combining Comcast and Time Warner Cable would have created a corporate colossi, hampering consumer choice, competition and innovation in both the broadband and pay TV marketplace.”

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