New Research: Comcast/NBC Merger Will Hit Chicago Hard

Posted July 8th, 2010 by Nick Russo

Next Tuesday, July 13th, the Federal Communications Commission will hold a public hearing at the Northwestern University Law School in Chicago regarding Comcast’s proposed merger with NBC and the impact it will have on the city.

Before the FCC comes to town let’s get some facts on the table. As the agency considers whether to let big media get even bigger, it’s important to understand the state of media consolidation in the city already. Warning: it’s not a pretty picture.

Chicago is the third-largest radio and television market in the country which means it wields significant social, political and economic power. Regardless of its size, much of Chicago’s traditional media is owned by just a handful of companies. Comcast is already a media giant in Chicago, dominating the cable and Internet service in the city – and now it wants to take over NBC 5 Chicago and Telemundo Chicago. Controlling content on three platforms – cable, Internet and broadcast – Comcast would turn Chicago into a media company town. This is not good for competition or consumers.

The bi-partisan Coalition for Competition in Media, which launched today, outlines the threats to Chicago this way:

“Imagine you live in Chicago. If this deal goes forward as proposed, you and your fellow Chicagoland residents will wake up one day to find Comcast is no longer just the dominant high-speed internet and cable company. Now, Comcast also owns WMAQ, your local NBC affiliate. It owns Telemundo WSNS, your local Spanish-language broadcaster. It owns Chicago Sportsnet, home of the Cubs, White Sox, Bulls and your Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks. This one company now also owns dozens of cable channels across the dial and websites across the Internet . It also owns the Universal movies you see in your cineplex and the movies you download from the Universal catalogue.”

In Chicago, a city known for its diversity, people of color account for nearly two-thirds of the population in the city of Chicago. Unfortunately, yet not surprisingly, Comcast and NBC both have bad reputations when it comes to diversity in their programming and in their companies. In the past, media consolidation has hurt minority media ownership – this deal would be no different.

Chicago is a city already plagued with media consolidation: just four companies control nearly two-thirds of the local news market with the Tribune company owning some of the most prominent media properties across the city. If Comcast were to swallow up NBC, they would own nearly one quarter of Chicago’s commercial cable channels in the most popular cable package. Nationally Comcast could control one out of every five viewing hours on TV.

These stats just scratch the surface. For more information about the FCC hearing in Chicago click here. For more on media consolidation in Chicago, check out our research here.

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