Regardless of the push-back from regulators and dissatisfied users of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, the two cable companies are now taking their case for a $45 billion merger to officials of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, where they will discuss possible concessions, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Despite the 64,000 comments received by the Federal Communications Commission concerning the merger, the two cable companies obviously feel they can persuade the Department of Justice that the merger would result, as Comcast said in a statement last week, in "significant consumer benefits," so there is no basis for a lawsuit.

Comcast has acknowledged that it has a major problem with customer satisfaction, reportedly one of the lowest in the nation, yet it expects one to believe that will improve when it controls a major portion of the cable industry in the United States. It is a powerful company with major interests in the motion picture and TV production industries, as well as control of TV rights to some major professional sports teams, so there is no doubt it will be heard loud and clear in Washington, where money and power carry a lot of weight.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out when the interests of cable users come into conflict with two of the major players in the cable TV industry.