The FCC should continue its stay of the...

The FCC should continue its stay of the benchmark that requires Comcast/NBCU to offer its content to online video distributors (OVDs) at a rate comparable to other similar industry contracts, said Viacom, Disney and Time Warner Cable in a joint ex parte filing Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1dR2WC6). The condition is part of the order approving the Comcast/NBCUniversal merger, and continuing its stay of the order and taking up a pending application for review that challenges it are in the public interest, said the joint filing. However, Comcast has argued that fulfilling this condition requires that OVDs share their contract information with Comcast, which Viacom, Disney and TWC oppose. “Allowing C-NBCU agents to amass a body of information about competitors and about the OVD programming marketplace would benefit C-NBCU and run counter to sound competitive policy,” said the joint filing. Comcast also hasn’t demonstrated any need for the stay to be lifted, the companies said. One of the reasons behind the company’s objections is that the condition allows Comcast to get information about OVD deals before negotiations with an OVD have begun, whereas an earlier version of the condition reserved that power until after other forms of negotiation had failed. However, under a similar rule, the companies said they would still object to being compelled to reveal “overbroad or inappropriate” information.