Saturday (January 20) saw the expiration of major conditions imposed by regulators as part of Comcast’s 2011 purchase of NBCUniversal, renewing debate over AT&T’s takeover of Time Warner that the Justice Department is trying to block.
In addition, smaller cable companies that compete against Comcast are worried that Comcast will raise the price for carrying “must-have” programming such as regional sports networks, NBC’s local TV stations, and NBC’s national programming. The merger conditions require Comcast to submit to arbitration when there are disputes over prices, terms, and conditions of programming agreements with other pay-TV companies.
