FCC, DoJ Investigate NBC, Comcast Merger
The FCC and DOJ are scrutinizing the NBC/Comcast deal that was announced late last year.
In December, Comcast and General Electric announced that in a deal valued at $37 billion, Comcast, the country's largest cable television company, would start a joint venture with NBC Universal, strengthening its push into programming.
However, the deal raised many concerns with regard to antitrust and a significant amount of people questioned whether or not it was wise to allow the nation's biggest broadband and cable company to merge with NBC. The FCC and the Department of Justice appeared before congress last week to answer questions about their respective investigations into the deal.
While there has been no hint as to what the two bodies will conclude after conducting their reviews, the Associated Press cites industry analysts who expect regulators to approve the deal but with conditions in place to prevent the combined company from abusing its market power.
The New York Post reports that both the FCC and DOJ will conduct investigations into the multi-billion dollar deal. The Justice Department will consider the competitive issues, while the FCC, with a broader mandate, will take into account the impact on universal service, spectrum allocation and the diversity of news and content.
Read more on the New York Post and the Associated Press.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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JohnnyLucky Isn't this old news? I seem to recall reading previous articles. This article doesn't seem like much of an update.Reply -
siuol11 They will study it, spend lots of money on it, and then let it happen. They haven't turned down a merger in the past 10 years, why stop now?Reply -
kutark I don't know, the FCC is pretty pissed at telecom companies at the moment, and for good reason. They may battle pretty hard to keep this from happening.Reply -
anamaniac kutarkI don't know, the FCC is pretty pissed at telecom companies at the moment, and for good reason. They may battle pretty hard to keep this from happening.I'm pretty pissed at telecom companies too.Reply
And I'm Canadian. =D