Consumer Watchdog: Google, Comcast Top List of Tracked Techies in Lobbying Spending

Google and Comcast were one and two in federal lobbying spending in 2015 among 16 tech and communications firms monitored by Consumer Watchdog, according to records filed with Congress.

Google topped the list at $16.66 million, followed closely by Comcast at $15.63. That was down 7% from last year, but only a portion of 2015 was spent trying to push the Charter merger through the FCC and Justice—which didn't happen.

Time Warner Cable, the nation's number two cable operator was down the list at $6.98 million, down 31.2% from the year before, when it, too, was trying to get the merger through the regulatory gauntlet, though it is back at it with the Charter deal. 

Edge providers were on the upswing. Amazon, whose spending was up a record 91% to $9.07 million in 2015 over $4.74 million in 2014.

Facebook, which has boosted its Washington profile in recent years, came in slightly ahead of Amazon at $9.85 million, but only up 5.5%.

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.