Viamedia to FCC: Comcast/TWC Must Have Ad-Related Conditions

Comcast and Time Warner Cable have failed to show how their acquisition benefits the public, while their combination of ad sales distribution, technology and data would give them "absolute control" of the spot cable and other cable ad markets.

That is according to cable ad sales company Viamedia, which has to compete with NCC for those spot cable ad dollars.

In response to Comcast's defense of the deal at the FCC—which some have challenged and others have insisted be heavily conditioned—Viamedia argues that the combined company would control $4.5 billion out of the $5.4 billion spot cable market and about 87% of cable households via control of national spot cable ad company NCC, set-top box viewing, and Internet surfing data that would give Comcast "the incentive and ability to control the future of local advertising."

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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.