Hinchey: Block That Deal
Seven House Democrats Send Letter To Attorney General, FCC Chairman Calling For Scuttling Of Proposed Merger
by John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 2/4/2010 6:16:37 PM
As if Comcast and NBCU executives didn't have enough with getting roughed up by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) in a Senate Antitrust Subcomittee hearing vetting their proposed merger, at about the same time a septet of Democrats led by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (N.Y.) was firing off a letter to the Attorney General and FCC chairman calling on them to block the deal entirely.
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.)
According to a copy of the letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder and Facc chairman Julius Genachowski, they said that the deal would be more consolidation, less choice, and higher cable bills, the last a point hammered on in the Senate hearing.
"This merger would further limit the American people's access to a wide array of information and broadcast content that is inherently necessity for a properly functioning democracy," said Hinchey in announcing the letter. "The Comcast-NBC Universal deal must be blocked for the good of the American people."
Also signing onto the letter were Donna Edwards (D-Md.), John Olver (D-Mass.), Bob Filner (D-Calif.), Pete Stark (D-Calif.), Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), and Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.).
Despite the strident criticism, at least one of its loudest critics, the American Cable Association, thinks the deal will likely go through. The more likely battleground is not an up or down vote by either FCC or Justice, but what conditions will be applied in addition to the ones Comcast has voluntarily agreed to.
The company added a new one Thursday, saying it would adhere to program access rules as a condition of the deal even if those rules were thrown out by the courts. Comcast has challenged the FCC conclusion that such rules are still needed, citing the rise in competition the rules were intended to foster.
Comcast to Hill: We’ll Be Fair
02/07/2010NBCU Merger ReviewGoes on Road Tour
06/06/2010AT&T: Third Way Is 'Road To Ruin'
08/12/2010
Featured Company
-
Digital Rapids
Digital Rapids is the leading provider of professional hardware and software tools, technology and expertise for bringing video to wider audiences and new viewing platforms. Continuing to set new standards in quality, productivity and versatility, our solutions span the critical ..more
Most Recent Resources
The Local Origination/Leased Access Metamorphosis
-
Multi Format Encoding for Efficient Content Repurposing
-
The CIOs Guide to Videoconferencing Security Keeping Pace with th..
-
Robust Encoding, Transcoding and Streaming Systems – Critical B..
Fixing The Annual Rate Adjustment Planning & Execution Process
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
