Slashdot Mirror
FCC Chair Seeks Comcast-NBC Merger Conditions
Anarki2004 writes with this excerpt from an Associated Press report:
"The head of the Federal Communications Commission is proposing regulatory conditions to ensure that cable TV giant Comcast Corp. cannot stifle competition in the video market once it takes control of NBC Universal. The conditions laid out Thursday by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski are intended to guarantee that satellite providers and other rival television services can still carry marquee NBC programming and that new Internet video distributors can get the content they need to grow and compete. ... Genachowski wants to ensure that Comcast won't be able to use its control over NBC's vast media empire to withhold content from emerging online competitors such as Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. — locking consumers into costly monthly cable bills to get access to a wide range of popular programming. Genachowski now needs at least two of the other four FCC commissioners to back his proposal, and he is likely to make modifications to win the support he needs to cap off the yearlong regulatory review."
I'd also like a condition that says they have to increase their network architecture to support their advertised broadband speeds.
What would they do that? Only pirates use their Internet connections to the fullest capacity!
Sincerely,
RIAA & MPAA
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
So let me get this straight.
The head of the FCC has just said, "We know this merger could be bad for consumers in several ways. Here are the ways: 'A, B, C'. However, I'd like to let the merger go through, if Comcast just promises not to do those bad things."
Genius. Trust a business to put the interests of the people ahead of their profit. Sounds like a brilliant plan.
Even if the promise is backed by punishment if they break it, it's still a terrible idea, and there's no way they can cover every bad thing Comcast could do in the promise.
If there are such serious concerns for what impact the sale will make, block it on anti-trust issues. I'm not one for government regulation, but we have some laws for situations like this.
These weak concessions, and planning on negotiating them down, makes this appear as little but a panacea for the citizens anger when they start getting shafted.
I'd like to see them break up both Comcast and NBC into smaller regional outfits. :P
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
I'd be happy if there were laws against the joining of Content and Distribution. This vertical model is bad for the marketplace and for consumers.
Is what this is. Anticompetitive practices is what it is ALL about.
They're not doing this to save money in their accounting offices.
They're doing this so they can make life hard on other cable/internet providers.
And that's exactly what will happen.
If you don't want that to happen, this right here, is the moment in time to do something about it.
Why does every voting official, regardless of position, now demand some type of additional compensation in the form of concessions before they'll vote?
Always someone has power over you. The thing to consider is this: Is the power good, or bad?
Split the content provider and the common carrier apart.
Have gnu, will travel.