The
Coalition for Competition in Media, whose members include Bloomberg,
Free Press, the Writers Guild West and Media Access Project have asked
state attorneys general to investigate the potential Comcast/NBCU
merger.
As legislators seemed to be lining up this week to
support the deal, the Coalition publicized a letter it has sent to the
National Association of Attorneys General telling them the deal posed a
"grave threat" to consumers and asking them to investigate
its impact on their states.
That came as congressional representatives from many of
those states were writing the FCC and the Justice Department telling
them to approve the deal and to be quick about it, saying it would be
good for jobs and diversity, among other things.
"This broad horizontal and vertical integration will give Comcast unprecedented means and incentive to engage in
anti-competitive behaviors that would be fundamentally harmful to
consumers, competitors and workers," the coalition wrote in a letter to the NAAG's president.
Letters also went to five individual AGs that the
coalition said had been scrutinizing the merger: Jerry Brown of
California; Andrew Cuomo of New York; John Kroger of Oregon; Bill
McCollum of Florida; and Rob McKenna of Washington.
"We're proud of the over 1000 elected
officials and diverse organizations across the country that have
expressed support for this transaction," Comcast said in a statement.
"We are confident reviews will find this deal to be pro-competitive and
in the public
interest."
