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The American Cable Association has asked the Department of Justice to open an antitrust investigation on Comcast-NBCUniversal. This would be a way to let the Department of Justice oversee the corporation after the expiry of the conditions imposed on the merger at the beginning of the year. ACA says the government still needs a leash for the company, rather than letting it be believed that, according to ACA, the problems faced by the courts in 2011, when it imposed the conditions, are still problematic .
Comcast-NBCU claims that the ACA's appeal is unfounded and "constitutes an inappropriate attempt to leverage the commercial market."
But President Donald Trump, who is not a fan of NBC News or most of the big news media companies who have criticized him, has taken note of ACA's letter in a tweet:
President of ACA, Matt Polka
American Cable Association
ACA did not complain about the additional projector, thanking the President for his contribution. A spokesman for the group said that they did not know how the president had read the letter, although his tweet came after his report by Multichannel News and others.
ACA wanted Justice to expand conditions, but this was not the case, although the head of antitrust legislation, Makan Delrahim, indicated that one of the reasons he favored the benefits rather than the conditions of such as those implicated in the merger is difficult to apply. He also said that justice would monitor society now that the conditions were obsolete. But ACA suggests doing more than watching to keep the company online. In addition, monitoring alone may not be enough to protect competitors with information about the business practices of the company they wish to share.
Related: ACA says the terms of the deal should last longer
ACA has long complained that large program providers force bundling and impose unfair conditions because of their size and market power over the smaller entities it represents.
"By opening a formal investigation, the GM will demonstrate the seriousness of his objectives and give him the ability to gather enough information to determine whether Comcast-NBC is acting in an anti-competitive manner," ACA said.
"NBCU has shown its willingness to harm its rivals even under the terms of the DOJ and FCC 2011," said ACA President Matt Polka. "In light of these concerns, which have also been expressed by members of Congress and a wide range of stakeholders, the antitrust division should immediately open an investigation into the behavior of the company."
"In 2011, the GM and FCC acknowledged that the combination of programming and distribution assets within Comcast-NBCU created such competition concerns that the transaction could only be approved with solid solutions. Since then, as demonstrated, the dominant position of Comcast-NBCU in the market has not diminished and, in fact, it is even larger, and the 2011 remedies are no longer in effect. -NBCU is unleashed, and the consumer and his rivals may be harmed. "
"The video programming and distribution markets are incredibly competitive," Comcast said in a statement. "New programmers and distribution platforms are giving consumers more and more choices about what to watch and where to watch – at Comcast NBCUniversal, we compete in this dynamic environment as we have always summer – by continuing to innovate and operating in accordance with antitrust and other laws, Comcast Cable included Netflix and YouTube on our X1 platform, and NBCUniversal provided content to Hulu, Netflix and others. hundreds of other traditional and over-the-top suppliers. "
One of Delrahim's big problems with the AT & T-Time Warner deal, that Justice pursued to block because AT & T would not accept spin-offs rather than behavioral conditions, it was that he saw an incentive and an opportunity for this merged company to disadvantage its competitors the most prestigious by limiting their access to the company's programming or distribution network.
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