Wondering about who's running anti-Comcast ads on social media? Its TiVo

Tom Paine


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Comcast takes away features, hikes up prices and hopes you’ll just continue to take it.

— Americans for Better Entertainment (@AmericansBetter) October 23, 2018

Update 11/15: A Whois lookup confirms that the site is indeed registered to TiVo. Why TiVo is taking this anonymous approach, but at the same time its revealing its corporate name in Whois, is puzzling. Is its purpose to collect a database of respondents for future use? Perhaps for its legal battle vs Comcast? I really don't know.



WHOIS search results

Domain Name: AMERICANSFORBETTERENTERTAINMENT.COM
Registry Domain ID: 2314356878_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Registrar URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Updated Date: 2018-09-25T19:42:57Z
Creation Date: 2018-09-25T19:42:56Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2020-09-25T19:42:56Z
Registrar: MarkMonitor Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 292
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abusecomplaints@markmonitor.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.2083895740
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Name Server: NS1.TIVO.COM
Name Server: NS2.TIVO.COM
Name Server: NS3.TIVO.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: https://www.icann.org/wicf/
>>> Last update of whois database: 2018-11-15T20:40:43Z <<< I've been trying to identify the organization behind Americans for Better Entertainment, whomever that may be, that's been running these ant-Comcast advertisements on social media over the past two months. This is what the campaign's Facebook page looks like.


Two of the people who commented on Facebook suggested that TiVo was behind the ads, although its from a tiny sample.

DOJ official: Evidence, not Trump tweets, led to Comcast probe https://t.co/NmJud1ynu2

— tom paine (@phillytechnews) November 14, 2018

My thought was it could be the American Cable Association, which represents smaller cable companies, who have pushed DOJ into opening up an antitrust investigation into Comcast. Trump tweeted favorable about the ACA on Monday:

American Cable Association has big problems with Comcast. They say that Comcast routinely violates Antitrust Laws. “These guys are acting much worse, and have much more potential for damage to consumers, than anything AT&T-Time Warner would do.” Charlie Gasparino

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2018

Any hints? Email me at phillytechnews@gmail.com.