Comcast/NBC: Too Big To Merge

3:53 pm EST December 3rd, 2009 | Media | 6 Comments

Free Press has the details

• A Comcast-NBC merger would hurt competition in traditional video markets. A merger between the nation’s No. 1 cable operator and a major television network threatens competitive rivalry and diversity in the video marketplace. The new entity could leverage its control over content to charge more to its rivals — costs that will ultimately be paid by consumers.

• A Comcast-NBC merger would hurt competition in the emerging online video market. Comcast is the largest residential broadband Internet service provider; NBC produces top-notch content and has a substantial interest in the online video provider Hulu. A merged company would have a powerful motive to starve competing online video sources by denying them access to vital content.

• A Comcast-NBC merger would trigger more media consolidation. Approval of this deal will undoubtedly trigger a merger wave, as the remaining players in both the distribution and content markets seek to muscle-up to match this new behemoth. As a result, competition from new entrants will be limited, consumer choice will be restricted, and prices will rise.

Way too many of these mergers got rubberstamped by the Clinton administration and most of them just ended up screwing over consumers. Especially with the inroads Comcast has into people’s internet usage, this one should be held up.

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6 Responses to “Comcast/NBC: Too Big To Merge”

  1. justadood says:
    December 3, 2009 at 4:49 pm

    I still chuckle over the PR black-eye Comcast got a year or 2 ago for interfering with BitTorrent by streaming resets into the B/T datastream.

    Think they stopped after that PR dust-up?

    Really?

    Think they won’t go right back and start into it again once they’re too big to fuck with?

  2. jr says:
    December 3, 2009 at 6:29 pm

    ComcastNBCUniversal is another symptom of the second gilded age disease

  3. Oliver Willis says:
    December 3, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    Especially when those torrents are identified as NBC/Universal properties?

  4. chris says:
    December 3, 2009 at 7:13 pm

    I don’t know, 30 Rock could get a lot better making Comcast jokes. And at least NBC wouldn’t be owned by a company which makes nuclear power plants and weapons of mass destruction.

  5. SaveFarris says:
    December 3, 2009 at 8:31 pm

    NBC produces top-notch content

    This is where you lose the argument.

  6. mambochicken23 says:
    December 3, 2009 at 9:07 pm

    Well, they do have 30 Rock…