Byron Allen Asks FCC to Vet Comcast-NBCU Condition

Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios, Inc. (ESI) and The National Association of African American-Owned Media (NAAAOM) took the latest shot in its ongoing battle with Comcast over carriage of minority-owned and targeted networks. That came in the form of a petition to the Federal Communications Commission asking it to investigate what they called Comcast's "failed" promise, codified in a condition of the merger with NBC Universal, to add majority-controlled African American-owned media networks.

They want the FCC to do a critical and detailed investigation into Comcast's claims of compliance, suggesting the conclusion will be that Comcast had not and that it will impose "penalties commensurate with the seriousness of its misconduct." The petition takes aim at the nets Comcast has added, saying the company has not supplied sufficient information to determine whether they are indeed majority owned and controlled, and suggesting they are not. ESI also claims Comcast never negotiated in good faith for its content. The two networks Comcast added per the initial part of its condition were Aspire and Revolt. ESI was passed over, but the petition says that move was inexplicable, saying that while ESI meets the criteria for an independent, minority-owned net, the other two do not. The main point they are trying to make is that white-owned network programming contracts need to be publicly reviewed. They say that while Comcast is spending $10 billion per year on licensing cable nets, Magic Johnson's Aspire does not receive licensing fees from Comcast, which ESI says is discriminatory. It also takes aim at what it says is the FCC's failure to enforce the memorandum of understanding (MOU) requiring addition of the networks and says Commission Mignon Clyburn should be "leading the charge" on that oversight, given that she had said when the merger was approved that she would be “watching closely with my large megaphone in my hand.”