• Bloomberg, Wednesday, October 20, 2010 12:08 AM

Comcast Corp. increased political giving by more than half as the biggest U.S. cable company sought federal approval to buy General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal. From December 2009, when the deal was reached, through August 2010, Comcast's contributions to federal candidates and political parties rose to $1.1 million from $682,450 in the same period two years earlier.

The Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department are weighing the proposed acquisition, which would give Comcast control of the NBC television network, 11 cable channels such as MSNBC and USA Network and a movie studio. 91 of the 99 House members and three of the five senators who suppor the merger received donations from Comcast in the election cycle that began Jan. 1, 2009, sometimes within days of the letters.

"That's buying political favors," Mark Cooper, research director of the Consumer Federation of America in Washington, said in an interview. "This full-court press on Congress is out of the ordinary."

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