Consumer Groups Protest AT&T-Comcast
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 4/29/2002 1:04:00 PM
National and state consumer groups called on federal regulators Monday to block the $72 billion cable merger between AT&T Broadband and Comcast Corp., claiming that the deal is anti-competitive and harmful to consumers.
A coalition of 38 public-interest groups filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission to deny the merger or assign it for hearing, which is the effective equivalent of a denial because hearings can drag on for months.
'It should be straightforward for the FCC to conclude that the merger is not in the public interest and turn it down,' Consumer Federation of America director of research Mark Cooper said.
A Comcast spokeswoman declined to comment. An AT&T Broadband spokesman said the company would stand by last week's Senate testimony in support of the merger by AT&T Corp. chairman and CEO C. Michael Armstrong.
In other comments, the American Cable Association -- a trade group representing small cable operators -- asked the FCC to ensure that AT&T-Comcast continues to make digital Headend in the Sky programming and other affiliated programming available to small cable operators on fair and reasonable terms.
And the Progress and Freedom Foundation -- a nonpartisan right-of-center think tank in Washington, D.C. -- urged approval of the cable merger 'as pro-competitive, efficiency-enhancing and consistent with the public interest.'
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