Comcast closed its transaction with General Electric, combining NBC Univeral with the largest cable TV provider in the United States.
The transaction eclipses similar deals we have have seen in Canada – Shaw / Canwest or BCE / CTV. The conditions set by the FCC and Justice Department may be instructive for what we will see emerging from the CRTC hearings opening today to review the BCE / CTV deal.
The primary conditions set by the FCC south of the border?
- Ensuring Reasonable Access to Comcast-NBCU Programming for Multichannel Distribution;
- Protecting the Development of Online Competition;
- Access to Comcast’s Distribution Systems;
- Protecting Diversity, Localism, Broadcast and Other Public Interest Concerns;
- Broadband Adoption and Deployment;
- Localism;
- Children’s Programming;
- Programming Diversity;
- Public, Educational and Governmental Programming.
NBC Universal brought more than broadcaster assets into Comcast; in Universal, the deal included one of the largest content production companies. As such, while there are similarities to the convergence deals in Canada, there are important distinctions between the US review and what the CRTC will need to consider.