Genachowski: FCC Began Comcast/NBCU Review March 5

Chairman says commission will soon put deal out for public comment

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/11/2010 10:24:30 AM

The FCC did not begin its review of the Comcast/NBCU deal until March 5, according to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

According to prepared testimony for a Senate Commerce Committee hearing March 11 on the proposed deal, the chairman said that while the FCC received the transfer application--for NBC station licenses--and public interest statement on Jan. 28, the company asked the commission to wait until it had submitted "a supplemental economic report," which he said the FCC got last Friday. He said the FCC will soon put the deal out for public comment.

Genachowski said a staff-level review has begun. The chairman said he has instructed that staff look at past mergers and see "with the benefit of hindsight, what the FCC did right, and where the agency could have done better."

The FCC will conduct the review in consultation with the Justice Department, which is conducting its own, separate, antitrust review of the deal.

The chairman could not discuss any details of the review since it is currently before the commission.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said he recognized Genachowski and Christine Varney of Justice could only talk about process, not the substance of the deal.

The chairman's testimony was primarily an outline of the FCC's statutory responsibility in reviewing transactions, including insuring competition, diversity, localism and a "deep respect" for the First Amendment.