Comcast Says It Has Resubmitted Data To FCC

Agency will resume reviewing merger once NBCU files

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/30/2010 5:29:09 PM

Comcast said Wednesday it has complied with the FCC's request that it resubmit documents and data related to its businesses.

According to a copy of the cover letter accompanying at least six boxes of documents being hand-delivered to the FCC, Comcast and the commission agreed to modify some of the FCC's request for info, including limited redactions and the FCC's agreement that Comcast won't have to produce "all written material necessary to understand any document responsive to these requests," unless the FCC determines they are necessary, in which Comcast has agreed to try to produce them "if possible."

Comcast also redesignated some confidential documents as non-confidential.

The FCC had said June 24 that it would stop reviewing the Comcast/NBCU merger until both Comcast and NBCU had fully complied with its data request.

According to Comcast, its Wednesday submission was the product of talks with the FCC, so the commission should be restarting its informal 180-day shot clock anytime now. It stopped the clock June 11.

 

Comcast is filing today, while NBC has not yet resubmitted its data, said a Comcast spokesperson, adding that it is expected to do so within the next few days.

"Once we get the information from both parties, the clock starts again," said Media Bureau spokesperson Janice Wise. She had no comment on whether the FCC had received the information from either.