Sports: just the most obvious indicator

[Commentary] You can't overstate the amount of fear most people have in dealing with the giant cable networks. Programmers are terrified. In particular, Comcast remembers and holds on to grievances. Programmers may even be unwilling to speak to the Department of Justice, because there's a risk the information they give about Comcast's practices will leak over to the Federal Communications Commission and become public. Comcast does not forget.

This isn't just a squabble about tiering and channeling. It's not even, really, a tussle over contractual terms of carriage. Nor is this a story about regulating the "speech" of Comcast - although they would undoubtedly claim that it is. This is much a deeper issue. When Comcast controls a dominant pipe into the home for all communications - voice, data, entertainment, interaction, you name it - in the areas in which it operates, it will be able to decide what goes quickly, what goes slowly, and how much Comcast gets paid for everything that passes over its lines. That's enormous power. And if Comcast can keep rivals small so that they can't constrain Comcast's pricing power, there will be nothing stopping prices for its services from creeping steadily -- even if slowly -- upwards. Much of this power already exists. Comcast has 61% of the Chicago market; 63% of Philadelphia; 58% of San Francisco; 59% of Miami.

This power will be increased by the addition of NBCU content -- particularly sports content.