FCC Approves Comcast-NBC Deal

Federal regulators have approved a deal this week in which cable giant Comcast [NASDAQ: CMCSA] acquired a 51% stake of NBC Universal from General Electric [NYSE: GE].

In a 4-1 vote on Tuesday, the FCC determined that the deal, which creates a company with a combined 16.7 million broadband subscribers and 23 million cable customers, is in the nation’s public interest, seeing it complies with certain conditions.
The conditions, among other things, are intended to ensure that the nation’s largest cable provider share NBC programming, such as MSNBC and USA Network, with cable, satellite and Internet rivals. They are meant to stop the conglomerate from trampling competition, which could ultimately lead to an increase in prices for customers, according to the Department of Justice.

Also according to the deal, Comcast will have to offer online video distributors the same package of broadcast and cable channels as it sells to traditional video programming distributors.

This deal effectively makes Comcast the parent company of MSNBC, which as any cursory glance at the ratings will tell you, was likely kept around by the benevolnce towards the networks leftist 'personalities' by GE CEO Jeffery Immelt. It will be interesting to see if this deal in any way changes the arrangement (and God-awful business model) between MSNBC and its parent company.