The parade of hearings on the proposed merger of Comcast and NBCU is getting to be like a typical television series – it has three regular cast members and features a parade of guest stars. The Thursday 2/25/10 episode, held in the House Judiciary Committee under the gavel of John Conyers (D-MI), will have three of each.
The two headliners are, of course, Brian Roberts of Comcast and Jeff Zucker of NBCU. And reprising his role of consumer watchdog in chief will be Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America.
The guest stars include Jean M. Prewitt of the Independent Film & Television Alliance, Larry Cohen of the Communications Workers of America and professor Thomas W. Hazlett from the George Mason University School of Law.
The hearing kicks off at 10AM.
RBR-TVBR observation: If these sessions had been held a couple of years ago, there is a good chance that Cooper would have been splitting time on the Hill with Gene Kimmelman, formerly of Consumers Union. Kimmelman has since moved on to DOJ, and for the moment, Cooper seemingly has the lion’s share of the Capitol Hill consumer watchdog gig to himself, at least on the communications beat.
