FCC rejects Bloomberg

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The current deadline day for comments on the pending proposed merger of Comcast and NBCU is 6/21/10. Bloomberg petitioned to extend the initial response day by 45 days, to 8/5/10, but its request fell on deaf Commission ears.


Bloomberg’s request hinges on the FCC’s own request for additional information from both Comcast and NBCU, for which it established a due date of 6/11/10, and was echoed by the American Cable Association, with the exception that ACA wanted even more time, an extra 60 days.

Bloomberg’s argument is simple: “…that an extension is needed because there is insufficient time for interested parties to incorporate any meaningful observations and analyses of the Applicants’ June 11 responses into their initial pleadings due on June 21st.  Bloomberg contends that, without an extension, it would be impossible to comply with the Commission’s instruction in this matter that parties raise all issues in those filings.”

Comcast and NBCU said that the request for additional info has not triggered new comment deadlines in the past, nor should it in this instance.

“We agree with the Applicants [Comcast and NBCU] that interested parties have had sufficient time to identify their potential concerns and frame any issues that they wish to raise and relief that they wish to propose,” wrote the FCC. “In the ex parte meetings that many of those parties already have held with Commission staff, such parties generally have been able to articulate their areas of concern without the benefit of having reviewed the Applicants’ June 11th submissions.”

So the comment schedule stands as is.