Comcast must now carry Bloomberg business news channel near other news channels on cable systems in the 35 largest U.S. media markets, the FCC ruled. Bloomberg filed two FCC complaints saying its network is not located close enough in channel position to Comcast’s CNBC and MSNBC networks across the country. Bloomberg’s claim points to a condition of the Comcast-NBCU merger that requires Comcast to move Bloomberg to the same neighborhood as the NBCU nets.
Bloomberg filed its first FCC complaint against Comcast last June, and the length of time it has taken the regulatory to respond became an issue. On a 4/10 conference call hosted by Bloomberg, Gigi Sohn, CEO of non-profit advocacy group Public Knowledge and a supporter of Bloomberg’s cause, said it is ridiculous that the Commission has yet to act on Bloomberg’s first complaint: “It’s time to do the hard work and actually enforce those conditions,” she said, adding that the FCC’s inaction is going to discourage others from coming forward to report possible abuses by companies such as Comcast.
“The news neighborhooding condition requires Comcast to carry all independent news and business news channels in a neighborhood if it places any such programming in a neighborhood of similar programming,” said the order, signed by William Lake, the FCC’s media bureau chief.
Comcast reportedly said it will ask the FCC’s commissioners to overturn the decision.
The FCC ordered Comcast to present a list of localities where Bloomberg TV is to be carried in a news neighborhood.
“We are pleased the FCC had the foresight to include the news neighborhooding condition in the Comcast/NBCU merger order,” and was willing to enforce it, Greg Babyak, Bloomberg’s head of government affairs, said in an e-mailed comment to Bloomberg.
RBR-TVBR observation: As we noted, Comcast does have news neighborhoods. In Northern Virginia, for example, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox News, CNN and Headline News are all back to back. It’s the same for other markets as well. Bloomberg is nowhere close. If putting the channel in the same neighborhood is a condition of the merger, then Comcast is in violation and the FCC should do something about it—and it did.
