PTC Also Takes Aim At Proposed Comcast-NBCU Combo

Advocacy group latest to weigh in on acquisition

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/3/2009 6:15:00 PM

While most legislators were playing their cards close to the vest with general statements about paying close attention to the merger, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) took aim with both barrel.

 "This acquisition must be stopped," he said in a statement late Thursday, adding it could be a dangerous precedent for further consolidation.

 "Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal would have a devastating impact on the already decreasing ability of the American people to receive unfiltered access to news, information, and entertainment programming from a wide array of sources," he said. "Given that we've already seen Comcast try to censor the Internet when it sought to undermine network neutrality several years ago, the American people should have no faith that Comcast would allow them to have access to a wide array of television programming."

 Also decrying the deal in no uncertain terms was the Parents Television Council, which branded it anti-family, anti-consumer, saying it would "destroy the concept of consumer choice."

 "Pairing the nation's largest cable provider with the behemoth that is NBC Universal can mean only one thing: less choice for families and consumers," said PTC President Tim Winter, himself a a former NBC exec, in a statement.

 Comcast says the deal is pro-consumer and pro-competitive by allowing it to better serve minorities, kids and families, among others.

 Winter said PTC wants an exhaustive review and conditions that include the unbundling of all cable programming.