Categories: OLD Media Moves

Bloomberg releases statement about Comcast filing with FCC

Here is the statement released late Wednesday by Greg Babyak, head of government affairs at Bloomberg LP, in response to Comcast’s filing with the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday regarding complaints from Bloomberg that the cable system operator needs to move Bloomberg Television closer to CNBC:

After a comprehensive review lasting nearly one year, this past January, the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission approved arguably the most significant media merger in history. They did so, however, in reliance on Comcast’s compliance with critical merger conditions. These conditions, which Comcast expressly accepted, were deemed necessary to protect the public interest.

The FCC expressed in particular its concerns about the importance of independent sources of news. Despite these strongly worded concerns, Comcast is not obeying clearly defined conditions, as Comcast continues to assert that “now” does not mean “now” and that their programming neighborhoods are not neighborhoods.

We are confident that Chairman Genachowski and his colleagues will enforce this condition, not only because of the critical role of independent programming and especially independent sources of news, but also because the integrity of the merger review process demands it.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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