In the middle of an otherwise routine earnings report last week, Netflix took an unexpected detour into the realm of antitrust enforcement: It opposed Comcast’s proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable, it said, because the deal would create a powerful giant with “anticompetitive leverage.”

The statement certainly grabbed the attention of the entertainment and communications industries. What it did not do was rally many others to the fight. Netflix stormed the hill, only to look back and find that almost no one was following it.

The $45 billion merger would transform Comcast into a vastly more powerful gatekeeper, giving it control of 40 percent of the country’s Internet service coverage and 19 of the country’s top 20 cable markets. As such, it could potentially disrupt the entire media and technology ecosystem.

Virtually every media and tech company — content providers like CBS and Disney, video streaming services like Amazon, Netflix and YouTube, and social media and e-commerce sites — has a major stake in the outcome of the government’s review of the merger. The question these companies now face is whether their interests are better served by speaking out about it, or by keeping any possible complaints to themselves as they try to negotiate the best deals they can with Comcast.