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DIRECTV: Hang Comcast on its Own Petard
Withholding its Philly SportsNet from competitors despite the FCC's ruling on "terrestrial loopholes" could boomerang on Comcast if DIRECTV has its way. In comments filed with the FCC yesterday evening, the DBS leader notes that this action makes Comcast's promise not to use the huge programming cache gained via a merger with NBC-U to harm rivals look suspiciously like a cat's promise not to play with mice.
Overall DIRECTV noted that Comcast's 600-page defense of the proposed joint venture failed to address three critical points raised earlier by DIRECTV. As it currently stands, wrote the company, "the proposed transaction would (1) enable Comcast to exploit an "online loophole" for critical content delivered via non-traditional platforms (such as the internet); (2) enable Comcast to impose large price increases" for its programming and (3) does not add "sufficient public interest benefits" to offset the first two points.
DIRECTV has suggested remedies for the competitive imbalance that, the El Segundo company says, "simply call for fair access to the same content at the same quality, the same speed, and the same time as Comcast makes available to itself."
In other comments on the proposed merger, the ACA dubbed the deal as "the most serious threat to the media ecosystem in at least a decade." In a laundry list of recommendations, the small cable association said the FCC should nix channel bundling in carriage negotiations, apply program access rules to all platforms, can build in protections for little guys.
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