Comcast-NBC 'Negative' If It Pares Access to Programs (updated)

Comcast's proposed takeover of NBC Universal would be a "negative thing" if it reduces access to programs for viewers and competitors, said Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA), Chairman of the House Communications, Technology, and the Internet Subcommittee.

"It's very important that there not be any diminution of availability of that content for those who are current users of it," Chairman Boucher said in an interview. He will chair a hearing on the merger Thursday (Feb 4). A "particular concern" is the continued availability of programs delivered over the Internet, Chairman Boucher said. "It would be a negative thing if it became less available than it is today." The subcommittee's Ranking Member, Cliff Stearns (R-FL), said the deal "deserves scrutiny. "However, I do not see any reason not to allow this merger." Andrew Jay Schwartzman, among witnesses for the hearings said the merger "will diminish the vibrancy of the marketplace of ideas, denying the public choice. That's why we oppose it."

Republican staffers on the House Commerce Committee weighed in with their own memo in advance of the Feb. 4 Comcast-NBC Universal merger hearing, warning Republican members not to let regulators, competitors or "public interest" groups (italics theirs) "to extort from Comcast and NBC Universal a wish-list of conditions they have failed to justify as industry-wide regulations."

That follows yesterday's memo from Democratic staffers talking about all their concerns about the deal's potential anticompetitive effects.

The Republicans are looking at the same deal but see it quite differently. "No condition is warranted unless it is narrowly tailored to a transaction-specific harm to competition," the staffers wrote, according to a copy of the memo. "Since the deal will not materially increase horizontal concentration in either the distribution or programming markets, demonstrating such harms will be difficult, especially in light of the robust competition in the video sector."