FCC Commissioner Michael Copps is having a tough time dealing with the idea of the number one cable company owning one of the top four broadcasters. The proposed (some would say almost finalized) Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA)-NBC Universal merger is "an awfully steep climb for me," said the agency's most senior Democrat. On the plus side, he added, "it's the most in-depth review we've seen here at the FCC, with more coordination with the Department of Justice."
If the Coalition for Competition in Media has its way, that review will become lengthier and deeper. The group, comprised of media players and watchdog groups opposed to the deal, thinks there should be even more opportunity for public say on the deal based on the FCC's own comment process that showed "94 percent in opposition to the merger."
As for Comcast, it's holding fast to its belief the deal will be approved by the end of the year and is "moving as quickly as we possibly can to try to close that transaction ... from an organizational sense and an integration sense," according to CFO Michael Angelakis, during a webcast from Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference. "We are more excited than we were back last December" (when the deal was brokered).
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