Another shoe drops on net neutrality

The Wall Street Journal:

Talks to merge Comcast Corp.’s cable networks and General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal are the latest sign of a big shift in television...
...
Comcast’s 50-year-old Chief Executive Brian Roberts has long coveted a union witha a content provider...  Five years ago, Comcast shareholders panned his $50 billion bid to acquire Walt Disney, which was ultimately abandoned...

In addition to the NBC broadcast network and the Universal Pictures studio, NBC Universal also owns or shares ownership in  six cable networks and the online video site Hulu.com.  (Comcast already owns cable nets E!, Golf Channel, Style, and TV One.)

While I’m not aware if Comcast has signed on to AT&T’s “content providers are freeloaders” campaign, the resulting company’s vertical integration puts the owner of the pipe in competition with others who have to use it.  This should not only concern any content providers outside of some future Comcast-NBC umbrella, but also Comcast’s 15 million high-speed internet customers.

The key question remaining in any such merger would be whether a content-heavier Comcast would be able to find synergies that have so far eluded Time Warner and CBS-Viacom.  Another is whether Comcast might try to push its customers toward its own offerings by “adjusting” its quality of service.


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Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 21:03:18 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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