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Comcast: FCC May Curb Broadband Investment

  • Reuters, Wednesday, May 26, 2010 11:54 PM
Comcast Corp's top financial executive U.S. regulators' plans to tighten control over the broadband market could curb private investment in the sector. CFO Michael Angelakis said the No. 1 U.S. cable operator had been "disappointed" by a plan by the Federal Communication Commission that would give the agency power to regulate pricing of broadband, reports Reuters. "If the regulatory aspect becomes distressed, it's clearly going to impact our appetite to invest," Angelakis said at an investor conference.

 

The FCC plan, which would classify broadband services with traditional phone lines, follows a court ruling last month that said the agency did not have the authority to stop Comcast from blocking online applications that distributed TV shows and movies.



Meantime, the FCC is digging deep in to the Comcast/NBC merger, asking questions that may even go beyond the regulatory agency's purview, says the Los Angeles Times.  Of particular interest to the commission is how NBC Universal and Comcast decide what content goes on what platforms. The FCC is asking NBC Universal to provide "total revenues and other consideration" it gets from cable and satellite distributors, online video distributors and its own NBC affiliates. The commission also wants to know details of every programming agreement NBC Universal and Comcast have with all its distributors as well as the financial nitty-gritty on its production business.

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