Tales of bad customer service are not relevant to the government's review of the Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger, but Comcast's competitors are using complaints from subscribers to boost public opposition to the deal, Comcast Executive VP David Cohen told The New York Times.

In an article Sunday titled, "Comcast Recruits Its Beneficiaries to Lobby for Time Warner Deal," the newspaper detailed how elected officials, charities, and other groups that receive financial support from Comcast have urged the government to approve the merger (a topic that we have previously covered).

Cohen defended Comcast's relationship with the groups, saying, “We have never provided financial support to an organization in exchange for support in a transaction. Our support is based on the quality of the work they do in the community.” Cohen "said he was offended by the suggestion that their endorsements had been made in return for the financial help."

He went on to attribute opposition to the deal to Comcast's competitors and the company's own customer service. The Times wrote:

In the interview, he also conceded that the widespread complaints about Comcast’s customer service, which the company is trying to address, have probably contributed to the number of people writing in opposing the deal—even though, he said, that is not relevant to the decision. But he attributed most of it to organized efforts by some of Comcast’s corporate rivals, which are helping to finance coalitions to oppose the deal. “The atmospherics around our customer service clearly stir some antipathy among some consumers,” Mr. Cohen said. “And it does provide a basis for opponents of the transaction to gin up three-sentence, nonsubstantive communications to the FCC saying that they don’t like Comcast or they don’t like Time Warner Cable.”

"Comcast's corporate rivals" appears to be a reference to newly formed coalitions such as "Don't Comcast the Internet" and "Stop Mega Comcast," each of which has support from other Internet and TV service providers.

"The Don’t Comcast the Internet campaign is driven by COMPTEL, ITTA (The Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance) and NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, which together represent more than one thousand businesses providing competitive video, Internet, Internet content, and voice services," the group says on its website.

NTCA is also a member of Stop Mega Comcast, as is Comcast competitor Dish. Stop Mega Comcast hired lobbyist firm Glover Park, which also lobbied against Comcast's 2011 purchase of NBCUniversal on behalf of Bloomberg LP.

Comcast and Time Warner Cable are the lowest-rated Internet, TV, and voice providers in the American Customer Satisfaction Index, and their customer service has been an issue in merger review proceedings. While the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice haven't weighed in yet, state-level officials in New York and California have proposed merger conditions designed to improve customer service.

Comcast expects federal review of the merger to last until mid-year.