Dr. William Rogerson, a professor of economics at Northwestern University, who served as the FCC's chief economist from 1998-99, conducted the research. He found Comcast-NBCU could raise programming fees significantly above levels the two would be able to command if they were separate and independent companies. According to Rogerson, the cost to consumers post-transaction is 10 times greater than the quantifiable consumer benefit of $204 million claimed by Comcast and NBCU.
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