Comcast, the biggest cable and Internet provider, is trying to take over its chief rival Time Warner. This would give Comcast a near-monopoly, and a presence in every major media market in the country.

With almost no competition, a merged Comcast-Time Warner would have no reason to keep prices low, or offer consumers more choices, much less improve its infrastructure. Millions of rural customers who have been waiting for decades for broadband internet access would likely have to keep on waiting.

We already deserve much better than we're getting from telecom giants. America lags far behind the rest of the developed world in Internet service, speed and affordability. The profit-greedy telecom industry has opposed infrastructure improvement at every opportunity.

If two of the worst and most incompetent cable providers consolidate their power, America's digital divide will grow as we all fall farther and farther behind the rest of the world.

Moreover, allowing only a handful of giant corporations to be the gatekeepers for almost all media and Internet services would be disastrous for privacy, freedom of speech, and what's left of an open Internet.

But the Federal Communications Commission can stop the merger. Please let the the FCC know that that's what we need it to do.

PETITION TO THE FCC: Stand up to the telecom behemoths and protect consumers -- just like you're supposed to. Block the Comcast-Time Warner merger now.

Just add your name at right to sign the petition to block Comcast's takeover of cable and the Internet.