Comcast-NBCU Merger: Bad for American Public

Posted March 5th, 2010 by Stevie Converse

Comcast and NBC Universal executives were back in Congress last week to answer more questions about the proposed mega-merger of the two companies. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and NBC’s Jeff Zucker tried to paint a rosy picture for the House Judiciary Committee about how the deal will be great for the industry, and shrugged off questions about future layoffs.

But Larry Cohen, President of the Communications Workers of America, wasn’t impressed. Neither was the President of the Independent Film & Television Alliance, Jean Prewitt.

Listen to Media Minutes for the full story.

The CWA, which represents network and content providers, has members who work for Comcast and NBC Universal. Cohen blasted Comcast for their strong anti-union tactics and trail of broken employee promises. He warned that the merger would “aggravate — not encourage — current anti-competitive behavior in the current television industry.”

Prewitt described to the committee how vertical integration has forced independent producers out of the TV industry and created the dearth of diverse and socially relevant programming that exists today. Five major conglomerates that now own the major broadcast and cable networks produce over 80 percent of all entertainment programming on primetime and on the three major children’s networks. Prewitt said that the percentage of independently produced series on the networks has declined from 50 percent in 1989 to 5 percent in 2008. And she expects those numbers to get worse with the Comcast-NBC deal.

Cohen and Prewitt urged lawmakers to create strong conditions for the merger that will protect consumers, workers, unions and independent content creators.

You can listen to Larry Cohen’s opening statement (audio 4:51) here. Jean Prewitt’s statement (audio 4:54) is here.

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