Over the last few weeks, Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller has been growing increasingly more concerned about a litany of television-related issues. Almost a month ago, he sharply criticized cable giants Fox News and MSNBC, saying he wished they'd just go away because it would be a “big favor to political discourse”. Now he's out with his trumpet again, this time taking on the NBCU-Comcast merger.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rockefeller fired off a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski saying, "It is vitally important that the commission studies the transaction carefully to make certain that the combination furthers the essential values of diversity, localism and competition that have long informed our communications policy.” Rockefeller also expressed worry the conglomerate could harm the online video market, as well as shut out independent channels.
His arguments are not without base, at least on the latter issue. This merger will happen, but when it does, it'll be interesting to see how or if the Comcast programming line-up will change. It would be nice to think the free market would work something like this out, but with just one cable and a few satellite options in many residential areas and apartment complexes, one would hope Comcast would continue offering all its competitors rather than push NBC Universal properties and channels only.
