Senators urge Department of Justice to review Comcast bid for Fox

A group of senators is urging the Justice Department to scrutinize Comcast’s $65 billion bid to buy much of 21st Century Fox. The senators wrote to Makan Delrahim, the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, asking him to review whether Comcast would be able to use Fox’s entertainment offerings to suppress its competitors. “In addition to horizontal concerns over local stations and regional sports programming, further consolidation that enhances and reinforces Comcast’s vertically integrated status as both a distributor and creator of media poses unique challenges, especially given that the merger would provide a majority stake in the streaming service Hulu,” the letter reads. The letter was signed by Sens Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Ed Markey (D-MA).