Outgoing House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and one of his committee members, Edward Markey (D-Mass.) have sent a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowksi outlining the conditions they want to be placed on the proposed Comcast-NBC Universal merger. The merger is currently in the hands of the FCC and Department of Justice.
Among the conditions: a “neighborhooding” clause, similar to the one being pushed for by Bloomberg TV.
Writes Markey:
In the critical area of news and information, the FCC should specifically look to ensure that independent news programmers are able to compete on a level playing field by being carried on the same tier as news programming owned by Comcast and being placed in the same general neighborhoods as news programming owned by Comcast.
And Waxman:
Competing programmers in news, sports and entertainment–especially cable programmers not affiliated with Comcast-NBCU–should be protected against discrimination in channel placement and tiering. For example, the new entity will control news channels such as NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC, as well as regional news channels. Comcast should not be permitted to isolate competitive offerings to these channels by placing them outside of the “neighborhood” for such content.
Analysis, and Waxman and Markey’s full letters to Genachowski, after the jump.
Bloomberg has been a thorn in the side of the proposed Comcast-NBCU transaction since it was announced. Its complaint is fairly simple: When Comcast controls CNBC, it will want to use its leverage to ensure that competing networks, namely Bloomberg and Fox Business Network, do not get the same carriage as the network it owns. Bloomberg has been calling for a “neighborhooding” clause for months in filings to the FCC.
In response, Comcast has called Bloomberg’s complaint “naive” and argued that guaranteeing equal channel placement for every competing network is simply not possible, and besides, new technology is making channel placement obsolete.
With regard to Waxman’s letter, Comcast is focusing on the positives, specifically praising Waxman’s request to conclude the review by the end of the year.
“We thank Chairman Waxman for joining other Congressional leaders in calling on the regulatory agencies to conclude their review of our transaction before year end,” said Sena Fitzmaurice, VP of Government Communications for Comcast, in a statement to TVNewser. “This deal will bring significant benefits for consumers, independent programmers, and diversity groups, and the sooner approvals are concluded, the sooner these benefits will be seen in the marketplace. We continue to work with the regulatory agencies on the issues identified by Chairman Waxman.”
Whether the FCC or DOJ will take the Congressmen’s recommendations remains to be seen.
Their full letters are embedded below.