Sen. Franken Asks Justice Dept. to Investigate Whether Recent Comcast Actions Violate Antitrust Law
Comcast’s Leadership Appointments at NBC Universal Require Investigation into “Gun-jumping”
Today, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) asking them to investigate Comcast's compliance with federal antitrust laws in light of its recent announcement of its proposed leadership for NBC Universal. Since the proposed merger between Comcast and NBC Universal has yet to be approved, Sen. Franken asked the DOJ to evaluate whether Comcast's recent actions constitute what's known as "gun-jumping," or illegal collaboration between pre-merger companies.
Comcast's announcement comes despite an earlier assurance to federal regulators not to announce further personnel changes "until the deal closing process and timing is certain."
Sen. Franken wrote in the letter, "The Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission have yet to complete their review of the proposed Comcast and NBC Universal merger. And yet, by publicly announcing their intended managers of each component of NBC Universal, Comcast has effectively told employees at NBC Universal who their ‘real bosses' are...Comcast has every right to promote its business and this merger. It does not have the right to effect that merger absent explicit federal approval, or indirectly control or influence NBC Universal until that approval is granted."
You can find the full text of the letter here.
