Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable brings...

Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable brings up several “key concerns,” Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and subcommittee ranking member Mike Lee, R-Utah, told the FCC and Justice Department in a letter Monday. The two-page letter focused on their hearing earlier this year on the deal, and pointed to several issues witnesses had raised. “Witnesses voiced concerns that the merger may negatively affect the development of online video distribution, give the combined entity undue market power as a buyer in the market for programming, and increase the combined entity’s incentive and ability to restrict access to content by rival multichannel video programming distributors,” Klobuchar and Lee said, also citing what they see as the deal’s threats to independent programming. Comcast has argued the deal would be good for consumers, which the senators also mention. Klobuchar and Lee said they plan to keep working with regulators and talking more as the proceeding continues, filing “additional comments once the FCC record is complete.”