Letter to Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast Corportation, and Jeffrey Hirsch, CEO of STARZ - Rush, Joined by Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Calls on Comcast to Negotiate in Good Faith, Preserve Diverse Programming

Letter

Today, U.S. Representatives Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) and Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), joined by members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, sent a letter to Comcast Corporation, calling on the company to negotiate in good faith with regards to its dealings with STARZ and to ensure diverse perspectives and programs.

"Yet again, Comcast appears to be abusing its outsized market power to the detriment of its customers in my district and across the country. Comcast's latest stunt would impact millions of subscribers nationwide, forcing many of them to continue to pay for programming they can no longer view, especially those that signed onto long-term contracts for packages that included STARZ.

"STARZ has a track record of hiring diverse talent, as well as providing diverse content to its consumers, and for many consumers, Comcast is the sole cable provider in their region. Therefore, by choosing not to carry STARZ, Comcast is robbing their paying customers of content that will likely be inaccessible elsewhere given their effective monopoly on the cable market, as well as the general lack of diverse television programming available to consumers.

"Again, we simply call on Comcast to do what is right by their customers, as well as their business partners, by negotiating in good faith and making a commitment to carrying diverse perspectives and programming," said Rush.