Bloomberg TV asks FCC to order move to news channels

Bloomberg LP has asked the Federal Communications Commission to direct cable operator Comcast to move Bloomberg Television into news channel neighborhoods in top markets around the country.

“We are asking the FCC to issue a final decision in Bloomberg’s complaint against Comcast, and direct Comcast to immediately move Bloomberg TV into every Standard Definition (SD) news neighborhood on each of Comcast’s channel lineups in the top 35-DMAs,” said Greg Babyak, head of government affairs at Bloomberg LP, in a statement.

“This request comes almost two-and-a-half years after the FCC included the news neighborhood condition in its merger order approving the Comcast-NBCU deal, and more than a year after the Media Bureau first said BTV should be neighborhooded by Comcast within sixty days.”

In January 2011, the FCC approved Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal, the largest media merger in history, including CNBC. Recognizing that the merger increased Comcast’s incentive and ability to discriminate against competing independent programmers, the commission required and Comcast agreed to accept the “news neighorhooding” condition to win approval of the deal.

Under the language in the FCC order approving the deal, if Comcast “now or in the future” carried news channels in a neighborhood on its systems, Comcast must carry independent news channels “in that neighborhood.” That condition is time-limited, with protection offered for only seven years. In May 2012, the Media Bureau agreed with Bloomberg that Bloomberg Television should be carried by Comcast in its news neighborhoods within 60 days.

After 29 months of the seven-year condition has passed, however, Bloomberg Television is not carried by Comcast in most of the news neighborhoods on its systems covered by the condition.