FCC Approves Comcast/NBC Universal Merger

By karoli

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This is really a disaster.

The FCC approved the merger of Comcast and NBC on Tuesday. The vote was 4 to 1, with Democratic commissioner Michael Copps casting the dissenting vote. The New York Times reports that the Justice Department, which also has to approve the deal, is expected to do so later on Tuesday.

The Wrap quoting the sole dissenter, Michael Copps:

The merger passed with votes from two the Democrats and two Republicans on the commission. The sole dissenter was Democratic Commissioner Michael J. Copps, who said in a statement that the transaction was "like no other that has come before this Commission—ever."
"It reaches into virtually every corner of our media and digital landscapes and will affect every citizen in the land," he said. "It is new media as well as old; it is news and information as well as sports and entertainment; it is distribution as well as content. And it confers too much power in one company’s hands."

Specific conditions of the merger are here. They're just a drop in the bucket, a nominal fee to pay for 7 years to own all of it, start to finish.

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