DirecTV offered its take on the proposed joint venture between
Comcast and NBC Universal, claiming that the deal would lead to higher
prices for content, pose no public benefit and allow the distribution
and programming giant to migrate programming to the Internet.
Comcast proposed a joint venture with NBCU in December
where it would own 51% of the programming giant with current parent
General Electric retaining a 49% interest. DirecTV has come out in the
past against the merger.
In
a filing with the Federal Communication Commission on Thursday night,
DirecTV claimed the JV would allow Comcast.NBCU to "exploit an online
loophole" to shift programming to Internet, on demand or mobile
platforms and deny competitors access to that content or restrict access
to consumers. DirecTV called for fair access to the same content at the
same quality, speed and time as Comcast makes it available to itself.
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