A preemptive strike against Comcast-NBC deal

A Washington-based advocacy group said yesterday that federal antitrust officials should oppose Comcast Corp.'s proposed takeover of NBC Universal Inc. because the merged company could diminish competition on the Internet and lead to a wave of media mergers.

Free Press, a nonprofit group opposed to media conglomerates, said it would lead a national campaign against a merger. The group's opposition was expected.

The small but influential group led a campaign in 2008 against Comcast over its Internet-management practices. This resulted in an enforcement action by the Federal Communications Commission. Free Press' former spokeswoman, Jen Howard, is now spokeswoman for FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said Comcast had no comment because no deal had been announced.

Comcast is the nation's largest cable-TV and residential high-speed Internet company. NBC Universal is one of the nation's largest entertainment programmers, with cable-TV channels, a movie studio and the NBC broadcast-TV network.

Some observers believe that a Comcast-NBC Universal deal could be announced within days.

"The only beneficiaries of this deal are the industry titans who already enjoy too much market power," Free Press' executive director, Josh Silver, said in a conference call with reporters.

Silver said that a deal between Comcast and NBC Universal would likely lead to more media mergers.

Officials from the Communications Workers of America, Internet company Vuze Inc., and the Consumer Federation of America joined Silver on the call and said they also opposed the merger.

Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation, said the merger could "remove a competitive rivalry" to Comcast's cable-TV operations because NBC has been willing to place TV programs on the free Internet site Hulu. Comcast could stop this practice, he said.

Sources say Comcast is negotiating to acquire a 51 percent share in NBC Universal in a complex deal with General Electric Co. GE owns 80 percent of NBC Universal.

Vivendi SA, a French company that owns the remaining 20 percent, remains a factor because it has not said that it would sell its stake in NBC Universal to GE. The deal hinges on Vivendi's decision.

Comcast would merge its cable-TV channels - Style, E!, the Golf Channel, and others - and contribute $4 billion to $6 billion to the joint venture. It would then purchase the remaining 49 percent of NBC Universal from GE over the next seven years.