• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, August 24, 2010

Mark Cuban appears to have diverse tastes. If not personally, with what he believes viewers want with their programming. 

His HDNet lineup covers a startling mix of high- and low-brow, from Dan Rather's reportage to mixed martial arts to "Bikini Destinations." And an FCC filing makes clear that the oft-iconoclastic CEO is exercising his right to final say.

He "personally makes the programming decisions" for the flagship and spinoff HDNet Movies, the document reads. The filing is in support of the Comcast-NBC Universal merger.

Cuban's endorsement isn't a surprise. A cynic might say it's a thank you to the cable operator for helping HDNet reach 20 million homes.

Even as Time Warner Cable has dumped HDNet, Comcast in May brought the channel into five new markets, including Philadelphia and San Francisco -- adding to an existing seven. (HDNet won't say how many homes Comcast offers it in.)

Comcast first signed a carriage deal for both HDNet channels in 2008 when it was looking to bolster its HD offerings.

With HDNet's endorsement, Comcast has another independently operated channel to back its proposed merger. Some -- notably Bloomberg -- have fought the transaction, suggesting that Comcast may use newfound clout to reduce their reach.

In the filing, HDNet says it has "found Comcast to be much more supportive of HDNet as an independent programmer than most of the other large, long-established" multichannel video programming distributors.

HDNet suggests that the FCC, which is reviewing the Comcast-NBCU transaction, should use the process to place some conditions on all MVPDs.

"It would be disappointing if protections for independent programmers were imposed only against Comcast during a merger proceeding, when in HDNet's experience, the real problem lies with others MVPDs," it says in its filing.