Column: Help us, Aereo! Streaming TV is our only hope now

Ugh.

If you're one of the millions of Americans fed up with the state of the cable industry, one story this week turned your stomach like a jar of sun-bleached mayonnaise.

Comcast, the largest cable company in the country, announced it would buy out Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable company in the country, for $45.2 billion in an all-stock deal. Time Warner's 11 million customers -- located in markets such as New York City, Southern California, and Texas -- will soon be a part of Comcast's fold, raising the latter's subscriber number to around 30 million.

Although the merger is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014, it will have to face a number of regulatory hurdles and a wealth of antitrust concerns. But Comcast has a plan to keep its market share under 30% -- a magic number by FCC regulations -- by divesting 3 million subscribers. (Also in its favor is an FCC chief who worked as a lobbyist for the cable industry.)

Full story at Minyanville.