Comcast Gets Static on Net TV

Apparently, the Justice Department is focusing in on how Comcast's bid to purchase control of General Electric's NBC Universal television and movie unit could affect the emerging Internet video market.

Competitors have complained that the combined powerhouse could stunt the Internet video industry's growth. During its eight-month review of the roughly $13.75 billion deal, the agency's antitrust division has become interested in finding out whether Comcast and other cable and satellite giants are trying to lock up distribution rights to television programming on the Internet, which would block potential competition, according to people familiar with the matter. The Justice Department's efforts, which are heating up, aren't likely to kill the deal, but they mark one of the first times that the government is seriously investigating—and could shape -- a debate raging through the media business: Will online video providers emerge as direct competitors or complements to the $69.8 billion U.S. TV subscription market? The regulators are considering the issue as the video market is undergoing its biggest transformation in decades. A range of companies -- Netflix Inc., TiVo Inc. and Apple Inc. among them -- are racing to provide access to video over the Internet, and a growing number of them are serving up content to Web-connected televisions as well as computers. That is further encroaching on the turf of cable and satellite companies, which are trying to co-opt the threat by launching Web-video services of their own.