Comcast Shouldn’t Be Able to Stop Verizon from Offering Better TV Plans

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Public Knowledge is on the other side of a lot of public policy issues from Verizon. That said, Verizon's new "Custom TV" plans are a move in the right direction. It’s great to see a company announce -- and then launch -- a new approach that is good for viewers, good for the provider, good for competition and ultimately good for programmers, as well. The “Custom TV” plans aren’t perfect, and they're not quite à la carte. But they can allow some viewers to lower their bills and increase the amount of control they have over the programming they pay for. That’s a good thing. It seems anticompetitive that Comcast, through NBC, should be able to prevent Verizon, one of its competitors, from offering new, more flexible TV plans.

Unlike the complaints from ESPN (which is owned by Disney, who also owns ABC) and Fox, when NBC complains about a TV distributor's practices, there's at least the appearance of a conflict of interest. The current dispute between Verizon and a few programmers highlights an existing and widespread tension between large programmers and pay TV providers. But if Comcast buys Time Warner Cable, its cable TV/broadband business will get bigger relative to its programming business. Comcast's incentive to use NBC programming in ways that benefit those businesses would therefore get bigger. In addition, as the largest cable provider, the plans that Comcast itself offers its subscribers would de facto be the industry standard. This would make it harder for other pay TV providers to differentiate themselves, and give large programmers another way to resist change. The current dispute between NBC and Verizon might therefore only be a taste of things to come. Comcast shouldn't be able to prevent its competitors from trying to offer better services. This is one more reason why the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice should prevent it from taking over Time Warner Cable.


Comcast Shouldn’t Be Able to Stop Verizon from Offering Better TV Plans