Addressing The Concerns Executives for both Reynolds and Lorillard said their merger was structured to be "pro-competitive." The plan would require certain operations to be divested to the U.K.'s Imperial Tobacco Group, thereby theoretically making Imperial a competitor with the new Reynolds in the United States. Comcast has said that since it does not compete directly with Time Warner Cable anywhere, consumer choice would not be affected. Comcast also said it would face plenty of competition in high-speed Internet from telephone and wireless companies. Timeline Given potential regulatory concerns, as well as the need for shareholder approval, neither the Comcast/Time Warner nor the Reynolds/Lorillard mergers were expected to conclude on anything remotely resembling a fast track. The complicated nature of the tobacco deal, which ultimately would involve four different companies, was not expected to close sooner than the first half of 2015.