CWA: Comcast-NBCU Must Prove Merger is in Public Interest

The Communications Workers of America called on the Federal Communications Commission to deny the application of Comcast Corporation and NBCU parent General Electric Company, or impose conditions that will protect the public interest.

Comcast and NBCU are looking to “combine the nation’s largest cable and Internet distribution company with the nation’s leading newsroom and production company.” This merger would create a media conglomerate that “would have a significant anti-competitive impact,” affecting consumers as well as growth of the video marketplace and other innovation, CWA said in its filing.

CWA outlined its concerns about potential harm to employees, the still developing video marketplace and the public interest. “Comcast’s proposed acquisition of NBCU will likely result in the loss of good jobs and the erosion of employee rights,” CWA said. NBCU’s debt will increase by $8 billion as a result of this deal, and following an all too familiar pattern in the media industry, will result in pressure to cut jobs. This not only affects workers at the companies but reduced staffing harms the quality of news and entertainment programming, CWA said.

The deal as proposed also will harm the developing online video market just as more companies are beginning to offer video streaming service on the Internet and through “over the top” service that bring Internet video directly to television, desktop and mobile devices, CWA said. But a combined Comcast-NBCU, following the “TV Everywhere model,” would restrict consumers’ online access to content, either forcing them to pay higher rates or not allowing them access if they don’t subscribe to Comcast’s cable or broadband service. Online access to the 2010 Olympic Games was restricted by NBC to only those online consumers who subscribed to cable. This is a clear caution against allowing this acquisition to go forward as proposed.

The vertically integrated company that results from this merger will have the market power to increase cable rates, impair independent networks and block competition in the video marketplace, CWA pointed out. “There already is too little competition in the video marketplace as evidenced by the rising cable rates that consumers pay year after year,” CWA said. And “limiting the ability to offer a competitive video service may delay or prevent the deployment of broadband,” an important part of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan and critical to economic development in the United States, CWA added.

CWA believes that Comcast and NBCU must prove that the transfer will advance the public interest and have failed to do so.

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