If five competitive safeguards are put in place, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) suggests the FCC and DOJ can best serve the public interest by approving the merger between Comcast and Universal. Boucher is chair of the key House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet.
His conditions:
* NBC programming currently made available for free at nbc.com may not be migrated away to TV Everywhere or a similar online platform.
* The merged entity may not enter into exclusive contracts for satellite- or online-delivered programming unless deemed in the public interest by the FCC.
* Other programmers may not be prohibited from access to TV Everywhere and other platforms or restrict availability on other MVPD platforms.
* High value sporting events and game schedules may not be migrated from over-the-air to subscription MVPD platforms.
* The combined entity may not exclude any particular internet-enabled device from displaying programming in which it has an interest.
Boucher said matters relating to network neutrality were being considered in a separately and need not be considered when evaluating the merger.
With the conditions stipulated, he’d like to see approval from the DOJ and FCC by 12/1/10.
RBR-TVBR observation: When it comes to big mergers, Democrats are much more likely to have reservations than are Republicans. So it would seem that the more support the merging entities can pick up from key Dems on Capitol Hill, the better the prospects for bringing this wedding to the “I do” phase.
