FCC, Stop the Deal
Posted July 13th, 2010 by Megan Tady
Free Press President and CEO Josh Silver testified today before the Federal Communications Commission’s public forum on Comcast’s proposed takeover of NBC. Silver didn’t hold back in criticizing the deal, saying it would result in higher prices for consumers and fewer choices in programming and services, and would limit innovation in the emerging online video market.
The forum was held in Chicago, a city that typifies the negative impacts the merger could have on local media landscapes. Comcast is Chicago’s dominant cable and Internet provider, and now the company wants to acquire NBC 5 Chicago and Telemundo Chicago. If this deal goes through, nearly a quarter of Chicago’s commercial cable channels in the most popular cable package will be owned by Comcast.
In excerpts from his prepared testimony, Silver said:
Policymaking at the behest of the largest companies – across industries – is threatening our economy, our oceans, our security and the very viability of our democracy. Just look at the ongoing recession or the Gulf of Mexico for the most recent examples. … Insufficient government oversight has already allowed companies like Comcast to overcharge customers who have no alternative providers when bills are too high or service quality is too low.
The merger would allow a single company to own a huge array of popular content, and to exert excessive control over how it is distributed over the airwaves, cable and Internet. Such dominance over any one of these provides sufficient reason for the FCC to block the transaction. The merged giant’s power over all three platforms requires that regulators stop the deal.
Comcast and NBC bear the burden of proving to the Commission that this transaction not only will not harm consumers and competition, but that it will actually advance public interest goals. Comcast and NBC have not made and cannot make this showing. … Some have suggested that if we place conditions on the deal, everything will be OK. But requiring conditions to neutralize the harms of a bad merger is not the same as ensuring that the merger affirmatively produces real public interest outcomes. Importantly, such conditions would expire in a few years. With this deal, the anticompetitive incentives would be part of the DNA of the merged company, making conditions with a shelf life about as helpful as putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg.
The merger is so dangerous for local and diverse media in Chicago and across the country that more than 20 public interest groups and private organizations have joined forces to launch the Coalition for Competition in Media (CCM) to oppose Comcast’s acquisition. The coalition includes Free Press, the National Organization for Women, the National Coalition of African American Owned Media (NCAAOM), Parents Television Council; Rural Independent Competitive Alliance; the Sports Fans Coalition; and, Bloomberg.
The coalition placed an ad in several Washington, D.C. media outlets this week chiding Comcast for its big media takeover. Check out the ad.
Last month, Free Press and other public interest groups filed a Petition to Deny with the FCC, and, along with allies, filed nearly 70,000 public signatures opposing the merger.
During his opening remarks at the forum, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps came out strong in protecting the public’s interest. He said the Comcast-NBC merger would be a “scene-setter for the future” of all media. He asked, “Should the FCC bless more media consolidation, or should the FCC begin pushing back the tide?”
Tell him and the entire FCC what you think by taking action here.
