Sen. Franken Asks FCC, DOJ to Stop Comcast-NBC Merger, Investigate Comcast's Apparent Violation of Net Neutrality, Antitrust Laws

Press Release

Today, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking them either to stop the Comcast-NBC merger or to impose tough restrictions on the resulting company in light of recent Comcast actions that may violate both net neutrality and antitrust laws. Sen. Franken notes that even though Comcast is undergoing two federal merger inquiries-a point at which they should be engaging in exemplary business practices-they already appear to be engaging in anticompetitive behavior. Specifically, Comcast has reportedly imposed a new, recurring fee on Level 3 Communications, the company slated to be the primary online delivery provider for Comcast's competitor in video services, Netflix. Sen. Franken also asked the DOJ and FCC to investigate Comcast's actions.

"Comcast's flagrant willingness to violate net neutrality and engage in apparently anticompetitive conduct-in the midst of two simultaneous federal merger inquiries, no less-trumpets the need to stop this merger, or, at a bare minimum, impose stringent conditions upon it to protect net neutrality and competition in the Internet and media marketplace," Sen. Franken wrote in the letter.

After significant deregulation of broadcast television in the 1990s, Sen. Franken worked with NBC as a producer for the show Lateline and saw firsthand the serious problems that result when a company has too much control over content.

Sen. Franken has long been critical of the Comcast-NBC merger and has said he believes it's bad for consumers, since the resulting company would have unprecedented control over how consumers get information and would likely cause increases in consumers' cable bills. He recently asked the FCC to investigate Comcast's compliance with federal antitrust laws in light of its recent announcement of the 43 members of its proposed leadership team for NBC Universal. This announcement may result in what is known as "gun-jumping," or illegal collaboration between pre-merger companies. Earlier this year, he wrote the FCC opposing the merger and outlining his concerns.

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