ivi TV To Oppose Comcast-NBCU Merger

ivi TV, the self-described “online cable system,” announced today that it intended to aggressively oppose the Comcast/NBC-Universal merger in its present form. ivi TV executives will meet with the FCC and a number of members of Congress this week.

ivi TV has already had communication the FCC about what it calls “Comcast’s anti-competitive behavior in the marketplace.” Working with its allies in the Congress, and with the Department of Justice and the FCC, ivi TV says it wants a broad and comprehensive scrutiny of Comcast’s existing contracts with cable and broadcast channels.

“Comcast would have regulators and the consuming public believe that their acquisition of NBC is not only benign, but is actually in the consumers best interest, when nothing could be further from the truth,” said Todd Weaver, ivi TV’s founder-CEO. “The facts are quite the contrary. Comcast has established a clear pattern and practice of requiring exclusive distribution rights in its contracts with content providers that stifles both competition and innovation.”

It is the view of ivi TV that many of Comcast’s current contracts unfairly impose a restraint of trade and limit competition. The acquisition by Comcast of NBC-Universal would exacerbate the ability of ivi TV and other OTT providers to obtain content, it says.  As a consequence,  consumers will  suffer and are “relegated to unnecessarily paying higher fees for Comcast’s defense of its antiquated one- size-fits-all legacy content delivery system.”

ivi claims that as the owner of NBC-Universal, Comcast would not only have a proprietary interest in more content, it will control the primary means of distribution of that content to the consuming public. “At a time when America’s economy needs innovation more than ever, this kind of unwarranted monopolistic behavior is most dangerous.”

“While NBC content once traveled to consumers over the public airwaves, today it also reaches consumers via Comcast’s legacy infrastructure,” Weaver continued. “Comcast is similar to the landline phone companies who have died a slow death. They will use contractual power and exclusive access to content as a means of continuing to generate revenue from an antiquated business model delivered over yesterday’s technology. The Congress, DOJ, and the FCC should require Comcast to provide a level, competitive playing field in exchange for approval of their merger with NBC-Universal. DOJ and the FCC must insist that Comcast’s content contracts be free of exclusivity and other contractual barriers to innovation, competition, and fair value for consumers,” Weaver concluded.