Zucker, Roberts Face Questions Over Comcast/NBC Deal

February 26, 2010 World Screen

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Jeff Zucker and Brian Roberts faced the House Judiciary Committee yesterday in defense of the Comcast/NBC Universal deal.

Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast, and Zucker, president and CEO of NBC Universal, each presented the case for Comcast’s proposed partnership with GE to take control of NBCU during the Judiciary Committee’s hearing on competition in the media and entertainment. This follows their testimony earlier this month in front of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet. The executives fielded questions on the issues of diversity, local programming, competition and technology.
 
Roberts noted that with the transaction, the goal is to "invest in local television, broadcast television, cable television, filmed entertainment, theme parks, [in] none of those businesses is Comcast a major provider today. There’s not the overlap that…some mergers would have or if GE were selling to another one of the major media companies. They would have a movie studio, they would have a broadcast network, they might have a theme park or another entertainment channel like USA or a news channel—Comcast does not have any of those types of assets on a national level. I feel very comfortable saying that the goal here, the motivations are to build and to innovate."
 
Zucker added, referencing the challenges of the broadcast TV model today, "With this commitment to broadcasting, with this commitment to investment, I actually feel better about the future of NBC and NBC Universal than I have in a long time, and gratified that this is not about synergies. I take comfort in that. Broadcasting has been under tremendous duress in recent years, as other forms of media like newspapers and radio have. This commitment to broadcasting the jobs that come with that give me good comfort."
 
The Committee also heard from a range of other organizations, including the Independent Film & Television Alliance. The trade association’s president and CEO, Jean Prewitt, called for strong conditions to protect diversity of programming and varied voices. "If allowed to go forward, the merger will give the American public far less choice in programming as more channels and distribution platforms are closed to independent content,” Prewitt said in her testimony. “This conflict between a corporate interest and the all-important public interest is at the heart of the larger issue…an issue that cuts to the core of American values of diversity, creativity and the free exchange of ideas.”
 
Prewitt went on to argue that "The public loses when they are limited to ‘major conglomerate brands’ and cross-promotable programming produced by the gatekeepers—and are not exposed to the diversity and breadth that independent programmers offer."
 
She continued that as a result of the merger: "Comcast is able—and apparently ready and willing—to define a marketplace that is merely a closed system. This is a step that can deprive the American public of meaningful choices in the content it is offered and that will undermine the ongoing viability of independent production in the new media environment.”
 
 


 

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