Comcast-NBCU Foes Step Up FCC Lobbying, as Eighth-Floor Review Continues
Those concerned about Comcast-NBC Universal intensified their FCC lobbying, as a nonprofit group opposed to the cable operator’s plan to buy control of NBC Universal said new pledges (CD Jan 13 p14) from the buyer fall short, filings posted Thursday to docket 10-56 show. Viacom, the largest programmer to express concerns about carriage of independent programming after the deal, teamed up with much smaller indie channel WealthTV to lobby aides to Commissioners Michael Copps and Commissioner Robert McDowell. The eighth floor continues to closely review the multibillion dollar deal, and commissioners are considering making changes to the Dec. 23 draft Media Bureau order conditionally approving the deal, agency officials said. Some said that no changes have yet been proposed by commissioners.
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Comcast made an “unacceptable” omission in not promising to air more news at all of the Telemundo TV stations owned by NBC Universal after the deal, Free Press said. “Comcast and NBCU have only deigned to expand their commitment to 6 of them. The Applicants have not explained why the remaining 10 communities served by Telemundo owned and operated stations do not also deserve to receive a similar commitment.” Free Press representatives shared those concerns with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Copps. A Comcast spokeswoman had no comment.
Viacom and WealthTV worry “Comcast would have increased incentive and ability to use its market power to affect carriage of independent linear programming by favoring its own content to the detriment of independent programmers,” the cable programmers said. They said the FCC should “carefully evaluate the effect that this merger would have on independent programmers, and to impose effective conditions to ensure a competitive marketplace.” Their executives had meetings with aides to Copps and Commissioner Robert McDowell. WealthTV is awaiting a ruling by commissioners on an FCC administrative law judge’s recommendation the regulator dismiss a program carriage complaint the channel made against Comcast and three other companies. There’s no condition in the draft order relating to that complaint, commission and industry officials said. There’s also nothing in the draft on a complaint by cable modem maker Zoom against Comcast, a commission official said. A bureau spokeswoman had no comment.
Free Press and other deal opponents sought more conditions, acknowledging that while they want the regulator to dismiss Comcast’s license transfer requests for NBC Universal, it “appears that the Commission is considering adoption of an order which would nonetheless approve the transactions.” It’s “not enough” to bar Comcast-NBC Universal from withholding programming from pay-TV rivals, because there are many other ways to disadvantage competitors by “tying arrangements, including use of mechanisms like Comcast’s Xfinity product to leverage power vis à vis competitors,” said Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, Free Press, Media Access Project, Public Knowledge and Writers Guild of America West. “Lack of transparency in the Commission’s administration of this proceeding” can be partly remedied by seeking public comment on proposed conditions, the groups told Genachowski, Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus, Chief Counsel Rick Kaplan and John Flynn, who’s heading Comcast-NBC Universal review. “Absence of access to the proposed conditions makes it very difficult to discuss details."
Disney and Time Warner asked that the order not affect industrywide practices. Disney worries about any conditions “that may be dependent on or that would affect the marketplace negotiations of independent third-parties,” it said an executive told aides to Commissioner Meredith Baker. “Nascent online video models” should be allowed to develop “in a way that supports the creation of high quality programming,” Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes told Genachowski, the company reported. Ex-Democratic Commissioner Gloria Tristani, representing public, educational and governmental (PEG) channel interests, reported telling Kaplan that the regulator should require Comcast to carry all PEG networks on all its cable systems on the basic-service tier.