• Bloomberg, Thursday, July 22, 2010 12:02 AM

Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable provider, boosted spending on political donations and lobbying as it sought approval to take over the operations of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal. Comcast spent $6.9 million to lobby the federal government during the first half of the year, up from $6.1 million during the same period in 2009, new congressional filings show.

GE also increased its lobbying expenditures, to $15.4 million during the first six months of 2010 compared with $11.7 million during the same period a year earlier. "We've come to a period in which money talks with particular force," said Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America, who opposes the NBC deal.

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