U.S. Congresswoman Raises Concerns Over Comcast/NBCU Deal

WASHINGTON, D.C.: U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters has written to FCC chief Julius Genachowski to express her concerns over the planned Comcast-NBC Universal merger, citing the Cablevision/Fox spat as an example of the harm that could be done to consumers.

"In light of Cablevision’s current dispute with News Corporation over the fees it pays the media conglomerate to carry Fox programming, I have grown increasingly concerned with the potential harm that could result if such a dispute ever arose between a competing cable company and a combined Comcast-NBC," Waters, a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, writes in the letter to the FCC chairman. "Absent substantive diversity and other public interest conditions, the Comcast-NBC merger could prove harmful to competition among traditional cable and broadcast companies, as well as the American public’s ability to access independent and alternative sources of news and entertainment."

Waters, who wants the FCC and Department of Justice to conduct an extensive review to ensure that the merger "contains substantive and enforceable conditions that foster greater diversity, localism, and competition," adds: "In the same manner that Fox is withholding its content from Cablevision customers, a similar dispute could have broader implications if Comcast Corporation is allowed to use its ownership of NBC content as leverage in negotiating higher rates for competing cable companies and content providers. While a combined Comcast-NBCU would not have to charge itself a carriage fee, it could charge other companies exorbitant rates, driving competitors out of business, resulting in less consumer choice. The same illustration is true for online content as Comcast could also deny competing ISPs access to its online properties or charge competing Internet programmers higher rates to utilize its broadband platform to launch online media and entertainment content."