Franken Wants DoJ, FCC to Address Verizon-Comcast Deal
May 7, 2012, 1:19 PM by Eric M. Zeman
Senator Al Franken has written the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission urging them to consider Comcast's "questionable compliance" with the conditions described in the Comcast-NBC Universal deal when assessing the Verizon Wireless AWS spectrum purchase from SpectrumCo. Franken alleges that Comcast has already proven that it won't stick to conditions it agreed to when it purchased NBC, and that it's possible Comcast won't stick to conditions set for the Verizon AWS spectrum purchase and joint-marketing agreements, should the DoJ and FCC approve them. "I am doubtful that behavioral conditions can be structured with sufficient precision to prevent competitive harm. I hope your agencies will be mindful of this when assessing the potential competition implications of Verizon and Comcast's decision to form a joint venture and jointly market each others' products and services. I am particularly concerned that this type of coordination and collaboration will only further harm consumers and will throttle competition in the online video space, and I urge you to closely examine these issues in the course of your investigations." The FCC recently extended its review of the proposed spectrum purchases by 21 days.
source: Office of Senator Al Franken
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Hmmmmm....