MAP, Free Press, Others Ask FCC To Delay Comcast/NBCU Vote

Public interest groups -- including Media Access Project and Free Press -- have asked the Federal Communications Commission to "defer action" on the Comcast/NBCU joint venture until Comcast makes its programming contracts back to 2006 part of the FCC record in the transaction, the FCC staff can review them, and groups like themselves can view them, subject to protective orders, then comment on them.

The FCC's transition team, backed by the chairman, has already given its tentative approval of the deal, subject to mandatory and voluntary conditions, but MAP and company say the FCC promised not to make a decision until it had reviewed the entire record. In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and the other commissioners dated Dec 28, they pointed to the chairman's testimony in a Mar. 11, 2010 Senate hearing on the deal that the commission's merger decisions are made "only after we compile and review a full record."

They point out that Comcast had not complied with the FCC's request that it provide information on "certain programming contracts," specifically all programming contracts struck since 2006. "[I]f opponents are denied access to this information subject to the strict protective orders designed to protect the confidentiality of business information," they argue, "there will not have been a full opportunity for them to file facts and arguments based on that data." The groups concede that the information was provided to the Justice Department--with which the FCC is working closely--and that when they asked John Flynn, senior counsel to the chairman for transactions, whether the FCC staff had reviewed the documents, he said that the FCC staff had access to them and that "it is aware of its obligation to ensure that the Commission's record reflects documents upon which the Commission has relied in its review of the pending applications." But that is not sufficient, they argue.