• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, August 12, 2010

Comcast still plans to file a response to a protest against its proposed merger with NBC Universal by the owner of a Washington-area cable news network, but likely won't do so until next week. A Comcast representative said the cable company would offer reasons why Allbritton Communications' objection is misguided in an FCC filing Thursday.

She said Comcast has been doing a series of meetings with FCC staff members and has to file follow-ups, which may have delayed the process.

Allbritton owns NewsChannel -- now known as TBD TV -- in Washington, as well as the ABC station there. And it has five ABC stations in other markets. Comcast is the dominant provider of pay TV in the Washington region.

In an Aug. 9 letter to the FCC, Allbritton suggested that Comcast may insist on conducting carriage negotiations for both NewsChannel 8 and the ABC stations in a package, which could "devalue the news channel, rendering it financially non-viable."

When it files its response with the FCC, Comcast may counter that it has no intention of undercutting the viability of NewsChannel 8, believing the more news sources the better. It may also try to debunk Allbritton's argument that it is insisting on negotiations for fees to carry NewsChannel 8 and retrans consent payments for airing the ABC stations in tandem.

Separate deals could benefit Allbritton, since NewsChannel 8 has a strong presence in news-obsessed Washington. And retrans payments are increasing, so the ABC stations may extract more value for Allbritton on their own.

If the NBCU merger is approved, Comcast would control the NBC station in Washington, which would be a competitor both to NewsChannel 8 and the ABC station.

It could launch its own 24-hour local cable news channel in Washington just as the NBC station in New York did. Allbritton may fear that Comcast could do that swiftly, since it could negotiate with itself to get carriage for perhaps an "NBC News Washington Nonstop" channel.