Boucher Subcommittee To Hold Comcast/NBCU Field Hearing

The House Communications Subcommittee will hold a field hearing on the proposed Comcast/NBCU joint venture July 8 in Chicago, five days before the FCC's planned field "forum" on the deal July 13.

Public interest groups called on the FCC to hold a field hearing, but so far it has been Congress that scheduled the hearings, with the FCC agreeing to a lengthy panel discussion and public input session, but not an official hearing.

The House Judiciary Committee held a field hearing on the deal June 7 in L.A..

No word on who will be testifying in Chicago at the subcommittee hearing, entitled "Comcast and NBC Universal: Who Benefits?" The subcommittee is headed by Rick Boucher (D-Va.).

The announcement came the same day that initial comments were due at the FCC on the deal.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.