One of the largest mass media and communications companies in the world is getting even larger with the announcement of its buyout of rival Time Warner Cable for $45 billion.
This is certainly good business for Comcast and its shareholders, but is it in the best interests of the public as a whole? That is the question being asked by a Senate Judiciary inquiry into the merger of the two communication giants.
Back 9 Network has been trying to get its new golf specific station on cable providers in the United States. CEO James Bosworth testified before the committee the process has gotten exceedingly more difficult since the announcement of the Time Warner buyout.
Bosworth was in negotiations with Time Warner for placement of the Back 9 Network in its cable package. When it was announced that Comcast would buy Time Warner, negotiations came to a standstill.
“Time Warner Cable, from the CEO and programming people, couldn’t have been more constructive” early on in the talks, Bosworth testified. “As soon as this [acquisition] was announced, that softened quite a bit. Since it [the acquisition] was announced, it’s become more difficult.”
Comcast owns the Golf Channel through one of its subsidiaries, NBC Universal and may want to charge a higher fee or may want to bar the Back 9 Network from being offered on television stations throughout the United States.
“We’re concerned that this merger will make a bad situation worse,” said James Bosworth, chairman and chief executive of Back9Network, an independently owned golf channel. “We’re competing directly with a Comcast-owned channel . . . right now they are judge and jury,” he said.
The Back 9 Network is currently internet based with original programming offering lifestyle, video and alternative golf stories that may appeal to a wider viewership of golfer. It is somewhat different than the standard professional tour golf scores and programming already available at the Golf Channel.
Isn’t Comcast control of the cable network programming in the U.S. bordering on censorship, if it prevents new programming from being broadcast through its outlets?