The Federal Communications Commission attached conditions on
Comcast's deal for NBC Universal aimed at widening U.S. broadband uptake
-- but it appears several key provisions will not change anything.
Among the requirements,
Comcast over the next three years will extend broadband service to
400,000 additional homes and offer a 6 Megabit per second tier for no
more than $49.95 per month.
"We find that these commitments will
lead to greater broadband demand, deployment and adoption, and thus
adopt them as conditions so that the public will realize these
considerable benefits," the FCC said in its approval order, released Thursday.
But the MSO should easily surpass the broadband-buildout commitment in the normal course of business, according to analysts.
