FCC Approves Comcast/NBC Deal

It’s time to break out your favorite wedding clothes. The FCC has given its blessing to the marriage of Comcast — the reigning Worst Company In America — and NBC Universal.

As predicted, the result of the FCC’s vote was 4-to-1 in favor of the deal, with senior commissioner Michael J. Copps the lone dissenting vote.

In a statement, Copps wrote that the merger “reaches into virtually every corner of our media and digital landscapes and will affect every citizen in the land… All the majority’s efforts — diligent though they were — to ameliorate these harms cannot mask the truth that this Comcast-NBCU joint venture grievously fails the public interest.”

FCC chair Julius Genachowski threw his support behind the deal shortly before Christmas. He says the deal will contribute $20 million in venture funds for minority programs and $9.95 broadband Internet service for low-income households.

The only hurdle left to holy matrimony is the Justice Department, though that agency is expected to announce its own conditional approval of the deal.

FCC approves Comcast and NBC joint venture [Washington Post]

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