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Comcast Chair & CEO Brian Roberts and NBC Universal President & CEO Jeff Zucker today defended their proposal to merge the two companies at a hearing held by the Senate Judiciary committee. Senate members questioned the deal’s potential impact on the media marketplace, including program availability and consumer costs. (2 hours, 3 minutes)
House Committee Energy & Commerce | Communications, Technology, and the Internet
The subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held a hearing today titled, “An Examination of the Proposed Combination of Comcast and NBC Universal.” The hearing explored the potential impact on the media marketplace of the proposed joint venture agreement between Comcast and NBC Universal. This portion contains committee members’ opening statements and no witness statements.
House Committee Energy & Commerce | Communications, Technology, and the Internet
Witnesses testified about the potential impact on the media marketplace of the proposed joint venture agreement between Comcast and NBC Universal. Among the issues they addressed were competition in the media marketplace, possible innovations which could result from the merger, the impact on local affiliates, and the affect on consumers.
The subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet is holding a hearing titled, “An Examination of the Proposed Combination of Comcast and NBC Universal.”
The hearing explores the potential impact on the media marketplace of the proposed joint venture agreement between Comcast and NBC Universal. It begins at 9:30am EST and is expected to run for several hours.
Participants:
To watch, click the C-SPAN logo below. A video player will pop up in a separate window. Be sure to disable any pop-up blockers in your browser. If the player does not appear, or you are unsure how to disable your pop-up blocker, you can launch the C-SPAN 3 stream using Flash, Windows Media, or RealVideo format from this direct link.
If you miss any part of the hearing, we anticipate having an archived edition up later today.
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[Update 10:23am — The members of the Subcommittee are still making opening statements. Generally, Democratic members are expressing concerns about the transaction, Republicans are either neutral or favorable towards the merger. The ranking member, Rep. Stearns (R) from Florida read a statement that could have been drafted by Comcast and NBC. Net Neutrality and copyright enforcement issues are also coming up. Members from California, the home base for a lot in the entertainment industry, are the ones usually mentioning copyright. Republicans who have brought up Net Neutrality are universally hostile to the policy, one warning the Committee the very concept may be overturned by the DC Court of Appeals. Democrats are in favor. Both Reps. Markey and Eshoo are on the panel — they co-introduced the Net Neutrality bill in Congress.
Based on the opening statements, it appears the question and answer session will likely bring hardball questions from most of the Democrats, softball questions from most of the Republicans. But expect a handful of members to occasionally break the trend. There will also be the usual grandstanding on both sides of the aisle from time to time.]
President Barack Obama reiterated his support for Net Neutrality policies and expressed concern about providers trying to charge higher fees and extract more money from consumers for broadband service.
In a post State of the Union question and answer session held on YouTube, the president responded to a question regarding policies that would forbid broadband providers from tampering with Internet traffic, typically for monetary gain.
“We’re getting push back, obviously, from some of the bigger carriers who would like to be able to charge more fees and extract more money from wealthier customers,” he said. “But we think that runs counter to the whole spirit of openness that has made the Internet such a powerful engine for not only economic growth, but also for the generation of ideas and creativity.”
The reference to charging higher fees and extracting more money from wealthier customers may signal Obama recognizes that Internet Overcharging schemes like usage limits and usage-based billing represent an end run around many Net Neutrality prohibitions. By charging excessively high prices for broadband traffic, Internet providers can effectively choke off potential competition to both its phone and television programming businesses, as well as higher bandwidth innovations still to come.
The Obama Administration’s support for Net Neutrality dates back to the early days of the presidential campaign, when then-Senator Obama expressed support for Net Neutrality. The Federal Communications Commission has been tasked to develop a Net Neutrality policy to be enforced by the Commission.
Critics contend the FCC has no authority to enforce such provisions.
Robert McDowell, one of the two minority Republican commissioners at the FCC predicted any attempt by the Commission to enact sweeping Net Neutrality policies would likely face a rapid challenge in the courts. One popular venue for such cases has been the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a track record of deciding cases in favor of providers.
Such a ruling could partially or completely derail an FCC Net Neutrality policy until Congress passed legislation to specifically authorize the Commission to regulate broadband policy. Congress can also pass Net Neutrality legislation itself.
President Barack Obama answers a question about Net Neutrality policy in his administration.
[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WSYR Syracuse Cut Your Phone, Cable and Internet Costs 1-25-10.flv[/flv]
Consumer Reports February 2010 issue rates service providers and gives advice to consumers about where and how to get the best deal for telephone, cable, and broadband service. WSYR-TV in Syracuse breaks it down. (2 minutes)
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