Franken wants antitrust probe of Comcast

[cal04]

Source: The Hill

Comcast's announcement of a new management team for NBC Universal may have been an illegal attempt to exert control over the company before the government has completed its antitrust review, according to Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.).

In a letter Monday to Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Christine Varney, Franken asked for an investigation.

"Comcast has every right to promote its business and this merger," wrote Franken, a former performer for NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

"It does not have the right to effect that merger absent explicit federal approval, or indirectly control or influence NBC Universal until that approval is granted. I urge you to investigate this conduct."

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/130403-franken-says-comcast-jumped-the-gun-with-management-reveal

[Oceansaway]

1. K&R...n/t

[elleng]

2. Good work!

[Kingofalldems]

3. Great idea.

K and R

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. "Assistant Attorney General "

Interesting.

[onenote]

47. why is it interesting that Franken wrote to the person in charge of the merger review?

[onehandle]

5. Go Al! Please stop this attack on consumers. nt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

30. No kidding.

My rates are so ridiculously high I decided to forgo the premium channels.

[EFerrari]

6. Go, Al!

What a great Senator he is. :)

[femrap]

7. Good for Al....

while he's at it, take a look at the hospital and health care systems that are merging....which will result in reduced care and bigger bonuses for the docs/hospitals.

[Still a Democrat]

8. Absolutely

Recommended.

[xchrom]

9. Right. On. Nt

[sarcasmo]

10. 30 Rock has done a great job of spoofing this merger.

[Major Hogwash]

11. They've gone too far.

Too big, too much -- and that's a monopoly!
Break 'em up!
Break 'em up now!!

Before it's too late!!

[happygoluckytoyou]

12. A SENATOR WITH BALLS.....hmmm what a concept

[Moonbat2]

15. DEFIANTLY

That was such a gutsy move!!

[AldebTX]

13. But They are Comcast...

They have money....they should be allowed to do anything they want <sarcasm>

[Enthusiast]

14. Senator Franken you are my hero!

The rest of you losers in the senate could learn something by watching the junior senator in action.

[Iowa]

31. Franken 2012

Al is someone I could enthusiastically support.

[lsewpershad]

16. So???

He asked and the most frustrating thing is nothing is going to happen. These corps can do what ever they want and no one seem able to sotp them.

[Ruby the Liberal]

22. Would you rather no one speak up?

[Doctor_J]

28. The DoJ could dissolve them tomorrow if they wanted to

That's if the admin was on the side of Franken & the people of the US

[onenote]

48. actually, they couldn't

[pgodbold]

17. K&R...n/t

[renate]

18. I just love him

A world-class sense of humor, obviously, and intelligence out the wazoo. He's so great.

:loveya:

[laughingliberal]

19. Yay, Al!

:bounce:

[Plucketeer]

20. Where the HELL are

the rest of OUR senators on things like this??? OH - THAT'S RIGHT.... They've been bought and paid for. :grr:

[Ruby the Liberal]

21. I love this man. Thank you, Minnesota!!

[harvey007]

23. Minnesota should be proud

So glad Al Franken beat Norm Coleman.

http://wonkette.com/284603/norm-coleman-is-a-stupid-dirty-hippie

[geardaddy]

44. So am I.

We're going through the recount thing again with our governor's race. The MNGOP is trying to sue the state to delay the recount.

"Wahhhh! We're were robbed with Franken, we won't let it happen again. Waaaahhh!!!" Sore fucking losers.

[wordpix]

24. while we're at it, how about an investigation of Aetna for

doubling premiums for acne, which was already treated and resolved. (It happened to me).

Thank you, Al! :applause:

[defendandprotect]

25. PLEASE ....!!! Comcast makes $500 million+ a year from internet pornography...!!!

Is this really the company who should be taking over NBC?

[onenote]

46. Good to know that Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson have supporters on DU

There are many good reasons to be concerned about the NBC/Comcast deal. The fact that Comcast offers its subscribers adult programming is not one of them.

[CLANG]

26. Never hurts to ask!!

:rofl: Way to go Al!!!

[sharesunited]

27. The amount of self-promotion on the Comcast systems is just unreal.

Any unbought ad time is automatically filled with a Comcast commercial.

How about a lottery for small business and start-ups to get that ad time at a dirt cheap rate?

Doesn't Comcast owe anything to the community it "serves?" How about doing something to help the economy? Why hog that time for yourself??

[LawnKorn]

40. 'Community it "serves" ' - Now that is rich

Several years ago Comcast dumped its USENET service because of lack of use. I used to frequent certain groups on USENET, and I liked having dedicated access through my ISP. Now if I wanted the same level of service, I would have to pay extra for it.

"Community it serves" HaHaHaHAHA
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

29. Oh come on Al

Why are you so anti-business?
:sarcasm:

[LuckyLib]

32. Comcast is one of the great predatory corporate entities -- their next "frontier"

is the elderly. (They already have college students and middle America.) I have seen them confuse and confound the elderly with respect to "bundling" for telephone, internet, cable, and then charging outrageous "set up" fees. This company is needs to be investigated BIG TIME.

[66 dmhlt]

33. Apollo 13/Franken Redux: "FCC ... We Have a Problem"

"When the same company owns the programming and runs the pipes that bring us the programming, we have a problem."

Source:
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/comcast-vs-fcc-or-how-be-arrogant-and-presu#comments

[underpants]

34. Oh please please please screw Comcast into the ground

I should write book on my experiences with Comcast

"Squirres" "static" and our handy repair waiting on hold because he has to call into the same phone number that we have to call in to--BTW there is always an outage in Altoona Pa....always.

Uh oh IT SNOWED! no service please enjoy SpongeBob while we don't fix the error.

[proteus_lives]

35. K/R.

[alp227]

36. Well, Franken USED to work for NBC, on "Saturday Night Live".

I find it great that he's standing up to corporate greed, even if it involves his former employer.

[Major Hogwash]

39. Yes, that's it! Al's bitter because he didn't get the news desk skit!!

LoL

Hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!

[glinda]

37. Merger should NOT happen and big media ownership should be broken up.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

38. Al's my favorite "WiseAss" (as he called himself way back in 95)

[pleah]

41. K&R

[BlancheSplanchnik]

42. How I love Al Franken!

And he even knows the correct usage of the word, "effect". :)


So many comedians seem to be brilliant and active in caring about making this world better...interesting.

[texastoast]

43. K&R n/t

[The Wielding Truth]

45. Way to go, Al! Monopolies are not good for democracy!

[myrna minx]

49. K&R n/t

[apnu]

50. Great! I love it, but it won't happen.

Comcast has too much cash and Senators are greedy fucking pigs.

But, thanks for getting in there Al. I love it.