The FCC Media Bureau should continue its stay...
The FCC Media Bureau should continue its stay of the benchmark condition in the FCC order approving Comcast’s buy of NBCUniversal, said representatives of Disney, CBS, Viacom and Time Warner in a meeting Monday with bureau Chief Bill Lake and…
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Chairman Tom Wheeler’s staff, according to an ex parte filing in docket 10-56 (http://bit.ly/1kqh7VP). The condition allows online video distributors (OVDs) to license Comcast-NBCUniversal programming if a similar deal is reached with an industry peer. The filing also asks the commission to act on the companies’ application for review of the benchmark condition, which would require OVDs invoking it to share information about third-party contracts with Comcast-NBCUniversal. “Allowing C-NBCU agents to amass a body of information about competitors and about the OVD programming marketplace would benefit C-NBCU and run counter to sound competitive policy,” said the filing. “The disclosure of highly confidential information to C-NBCU agents would transform the Benchmark Condition into a potential new advantage for C-NBCU; such exchanges of information are discouraged and prevented by competition and antitrust law for that very reason."