Proposal of Comcast-NBC Merger
editIn January 18, 2011, FCC and DOJ approved the syndication of the largest cable operator of the United States, Comcast and the well-known broadcasting company of the United States, NBC Universal which is described as “mammoth entertainment giant” by the website of Wired, the magazine of Technology and Culture.
Scale of new company
editThe Comcast-NBC consolidation expands Comcast both vertically and horizontally within the media market. Vertical integration includes the combination of video producer (NBC) and video distributor (Comcast). Horizontal integration includes adding NBC’s programming, such as Bravo and others to Comcast’s programming, including the Golf channel, E! and others; secondly, adding NBC’s broadcasting station to Comcast’s video network.
Mark Leccese summarizes the huge scale of new company:
“10 TV and movie production studios (including Universal Pictures), 20 cable channels, 11 regional broadcast TV stations, 15 Telemundo stations, 9 regional sports cable networks, one regional news cable station (New England Cable News), a whole bunch of websites, two pro sports teams in Philadelphia and two arenas, a food service vendor, a ticket agency, and four theme parks. And some other stuff.”
Influence
editComcast has reached to such a significant scale that owns large amounts of media and entertainment properties. However, facing the uncertainty of video marketplace, many people proposed their concerns :
1) how Comcast-NBC affects video market;
2) how Comcast-NBC affects public policy applied to the range of competition,diversity and localism of media company;
3) whether the merger indeed benefits the shareholders;
4) how Comcast-NBC changes the price of video markets;
Programming
editDick Ebersol, who has run NBC Sports for nearly 22 years starts to reshape the sports programming on Comcast. Ebersol decides to add new roles at Comcast programming. “Our great strength is the programming, production, marketing and relationship orientation of NBC Sports,” Ebersol said after the agreement of combination of Comcast and NBC were announced. He focuses on developing two programming: the Golf channel and the Versus.
See also
editColumbia Journalism Review “Who Owns What” webpage
Free Press ’s “Ownership Chart: The Big Six.”
References
edit1. Goldfarb, B. C. (2010). The Proposed Comcast-NBC Universal Combination: How It Might Affect the Video Market. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from www.crs.gov
2. Leccese, M. (2011, Jan 19). Comcast/NBC merger: Trouble or trivia? Retrieved from http://boston.com/community/blogs/gatekeeper/2011/01/comcastnbc_merger_trouble_or_t.html
3. Thierer, A. (2009). A Brief History of Media Merger Hysteria: From AOL-Time Warner to Comcast-NBC. Progress on Point, 16, 1-12. Retrieved from www.pff.org
4. Wallsten, S. J. (2010, July). An Economic Overview of the Implications For Online Video Of the Proposed Comcast NBCU Trabsaction. Retrieved Feburary 9, 2011, from Technology Policy Institute Studying the Global Information Economy: http://techpolicyinstitute.org/files/comcastnbc%20fcc%20chicago%20hearing.pdf
5. Sandomir, R. (2011, Feb 2). Ebersol Starts to Reshape Sports at Comcast. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/ebersol-starts-to-reshape-sports-at-comcast/?scp=9&sq=comcast%20nbc%20&st=cse
6. FCC.GOV. Online-Time Warner Merger Page. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/aoltw/aoltw.html.
7. (2001). The AOL/Time Warner merger: competition and consumer choice in broadband internet services and technologies : hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, February 29, 2000. Washington: U.S. G.P.O. .