Comcast/NBCU Hearings Will Be Streamed

Comcast/NBCU
field hearings/forums will get online coverage this week and next.

Spokespeople
for both the FCC and the subcommittee said Wednesday they will stream their
respective events--a House Communications Subcommittee hearing tomorrow (July
8) and an FCC forum on the deal July 13, both in Chicago. In addition, C-SPAN
will cover the FCC forum, though it will not be live due to conflicts with
other coverage--Congress returns from its July 4 recess with only weeks before
its August recess.

The
House Judiciary Committee's June 7 field hearing in L.A. on the proposed deal
was not streamed over the Internet, which did not sit well with some critics of
the deal looking for wider access to the hearing and its focus on diversity
issues.

The
same issues are expected to be front and center in Chicago.

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.