Deadline Today: Stop The Comcast Takeover of NBC

Posted June 21st, 2010 by Josh Stearns

Today is the deadline at the Federal Communications Commission for public comments on Comcast’s proposed takeover of NBC-Universal. Use this simple web form to submit comments directly to the FCC to object to the merger.

What’s at stake with this merger?

Comcast is the largest cable and Internet service provider in the country, and now it wants to buy NBC-Universal, effectively taking over its news and entertainment programming, its cable channels and local broadcast stations, and its movie studios. This means Comcast will not only own the content, but also control access to that content online, on cable and over broadcast. After its takeover of NBC, Comcast would control one in every five television viewing hours.

You can quickly and easily add your voice here, or read on for more information about the merger.

This deal is bad for consumers and citizens:
Comcast was just voted the worst company in America for 2010 by the readers of Consumerist.com. Comcast already raises its rates every year for its cable subscribers, and prices will only increase more after the merger. Rates for all cable customers nationwide could skyrocket because Comcast will have the opportunity and incentive to charge its competitors more for NBC programs and force competitors to pay for less desirable Comcast cable channels in order to get NBC programming — those added costs will mean bigger bills for all cable subscribers.

This deal is bad for independent media makers:
Both Comcast and NBC have a history of sidelining independent producers and media makers. Jean Prewitt, of the Independent Film and Television Alliance, testified that the Comcast merger is about “the very future of creative life, cultural expression and the free exchange of ideas.” She wrote, “This merger places at risk the opportunities for diverse, original and independent programming to reach the public through traditional media and new platforms.”

This deal is bad for labor:
Comcast is notoriously anti-labor and is known for firing workers who try to organize. In testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, the Communications Workers of America union wrote, “A Comcast-NBC combination will lead to the loss of good jobs. Comcast/NBC debt will increase by approximately $8 billion after this transaction. To pay for the debt, the company has two choices: cut jobs or raise cable prices. Either way, consumers and workers lose.”

This deal is bad for diverse voices and communities:
NBC and Comcast’s track record with diverse communities has been at the center of a number of debates about this merger. Members of Congress have been asking hard questions about this issue (see videos here and here). And the National Coalition of African-American Owned Media (NCAAOM) has called for a boycott of Comcast for their treatment of African American media owners.

This deal is bad for competition:
The Comcast merger puts too much power in the hands of one company. Comcast could withhold programming from competitors, and crush competition from emerging online video outlets by starving them of content. Comcast and NBC compete head to head for advertisers in cities across the country, but this merger would eliminate that competition.

Take action today to stop this merger.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 11:34 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.