Like another famous Philadelphian, Rocky Balboa, Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is tired of taking a beating from every self-serving interest group in the country that's using the MSO's planned acquisition of NBC Universal as a bully pulpit and is striking back. The Philadelphia-based media behemoth made that clear in a filing to the FCC that defended the acquisition and struck out at "self-serving claims of various competitors and the predictable responses from certain familiar critics."
Comcast pointed out further in the filing that despite the hoopla being generated around it, the media merger would still create a company with lower assets than Time Warner (NYSE: TWC-WI) , Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS)
That claim, predictably considering the way the merger activity has been going, was met with skepticism by the New York Post, owned, ironically by the fifth largest media company, News Corp. A short Post story pointed out that NBC Universal "houses some of the most profitable cable stations around" and detailed some of the potential values to be gained from those stations.
NBC also has local broadcast stations which, according to some analysts, may have to be sold or submit to independent arbitration to settle pricing disputes before the deal can go through. With a deadline of Aug. 5 to finish commenting on the deal, Comcast's plans for a year-end resolution and approval may be drifting away, according to Rebecca Arbogast and David Kaul, analysts with Stifle Nicolaus & Co. who noted to their clients that "the sheer complexity of issues" will push a final government decision into 2011.
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