The Obama Administration has made the turn necessary to get re-elected in 2012. Unfortunately that turn is at the expense of the middle class. While I simply hate this in effect the Obama administration may have realized that it is futile to fight alone.
First came the budget compromise that continued to reward the rich at the expense of the middle class. Next came his “Republicanesque” op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that pretty much takes the side of big business’ complaints about too much regulation inasmuch as the lack of regulation almost destroyed our economy and the currently poorly regulated natural gas companies are polluting ground water throughout the country.
Today we get yet another FCC approval of a large media merger. The biggest sources of information are constantly now under the control of a few corporations who in effect can create any alternate state of reality for Americans who are too busy trying to survive to research broadcast information that materially affects them.
I trust that President Obama understands the dynamic and is playing the best hand he has. I just wish the President and the Progressive base was more persuasive to bring America along. That absent the President can just play ball.
My Book: As I See It: Class Warfare The Only Resort To Right Wing Doom
Book’s Webpage: http://amzn.to/dt72c7 – Twitter: http://twitter.com/egbertowillies
Government Approves Comcast-NBC Merger
JOELLE TESSLER 01/18/11 04:22 PM
WASHINGTON — The federal government on Tuesday gave Comcast Corp., the country’s largest cable company, approval to take over NBC Universal, home of the NBC television network.
Comcast is buying a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co. for $13.8 billion in cash and assets.
The Justice Department said it reached a settlement with Comcast and NBC Universal that allows the companies to proceed with the deal, subject to some conditions.
The five-member Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday voted 4-1 to approve the deal. Michael Copps, one of the commission’s three Democrats and an opponent of media consolidation, voted against the deal.
With the transaction certain to transform the entertainment industry landscape, both the FCC and Justice Department are attaching conditions to prevent Comcast from trampling competitors once it takes control of NBC’s vast media empire.
Among other things, they’re requiring Comcast to make NBC programming available to competitors including rival cable companies, satellite operators and new Internet video services that could pose a threat to Comcast’s core cable business. Regulators want to ensure that emerging online video platforms being developed by companies such as Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. can get the movies and TV shows they need to grow – and potentially offer a cheaper alternative to monthly cable subscriptions.
Philadelphia-based Comcast has about 23 million cable TV subscribers and nearly 17 million Internet subscribers. It also owns a handful of cable channels, including E! Entertainment and the Golf Channel, and has a controlling interest in the Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers sports teams. Comcast’s SportsNet Philadelphia channel carries Flyers, Phillies and 76ers games.
Taking over NBC will transform the company into a media powerhouse. NBC Universal owns the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks; 26 local TV stations; popular cable channels including CNBC, Bravo and Oxygen; the Universal Pictures movie studio and theme parks; and a roughly 30 stake in Hulu.com, which distributes NBC and other broadcast programming online.
