Comcast taking over NBC?

If the FCC doesn't put its foot down, we're doomed.

Comcast is the cable TV giant known for its shitty service and for trying to move channels to tiers that reach fewer viewers if the channel is perceived as not toeing the right-wing party line. Thus, Comcast gives Fox News Channel preferred treatment over competitors.

But now it's believed that Comcast is on the verge of buying most of NBC. Under this deal, Comcast would own a majority of NBC Universal.

Granted, this blog has already blackballed NBC because of MSNBC's hit piece against the Obama campaign in which it stupidly doctored a Michelle Obama speech. Although this hoax was of such poor quality that it rivaled that of a grade school student making a fake report card on an old dot matrix printer, the network's intent to derail Obama was clear.

Even without any political bias, Comcast's attempted takeover of NBC should still be ruled out of bounds. For one thing, having a cable TV company own a network is a clear conflict. For another, FCC policies are supposed to guarantee a "diversity of voices" - not concentration of the media into fewer hands.

In the meantime, the FCC also needs to split up other network ownerships that would have been illegal before the disastrous Telecommunications Act of 1996. For instance, CBS owns half of CW. Before 1996, it was illegal for 2 networks to be co-owned. The other half of CW is owned by...Time Warner - yes, another cable giant. Fox owned MyTV, whose ratings were so dismal that it recently left the network biz.

Indeed, News Corporation - which owns Fox - has even been a potential bidder to buy NBC!

If the FCC won't rein in media consolidation, what good is it?

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/business/media/02nbc.html)