Bloomberg complains against Comcast-NBC deal

News company Bloomberg has filed a complaint with the FCC regarding the deal Comcast made with NBC Universal. It argues the largest cable operator in the country violated terms of the deal by moving the financial news TV network to Siberia, which is far away from existing news networks such as MSNBC, CNBC and Fox. This mirrors earlier objections, which state that Comcast may use its power to favor its own channels instead of rivals, including Bloomberg TV.

Comcast argues that since it doesn't yet have neighborhood news or business news channels, it meets the FCC's merger conditions. The FCC will need to decide whether Comcast does 'neighborhood' its news or not.

The FCC condition in dispute reads thus: "if Comcast now or in the future carries news and/or business news channels in a neighborhood, defined as placing a significant number or percentage of news and/or business news channels substantially adjacent to one another in a system's lineup, Comcast must carry all independent news and business news channels in that neighborhood."

Bloomberg is trying to grow the number of users for Bloomberg TV, which is struggling compared to main rival CNBC, now controlled by Comcast. [via Wired]

By Electronista Staff