Comcast-NBC Deal: Does the Merger’s Approval Rest on Health Care?

[Zoom-boing]

A day, one single day, after the two media giants announced their deal, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts proudly weighed in to strongly support the Senate Democrats’ health care reform bill.

Now Comcast is a big company, with about 100,000 employees. I’m sure health care costs have a big impact on their bottom line. But the bottom line impact on Roberts’ personal net worth will be much greater if the federal government, with a big say-so from the US Senate, approves the $13 billion deal.

So Roberts’ heartfelt letter to the president in support of the Democrats’ singular policy issue was the first action he took in what is expected to be a twelve-month regulatory review process. This is an action with absolutely no relevance to the vast intricacies of the merger, but a move that sets a new standard for blatant pandering aimed at a group of people for whom pandering is the new coin of the realm.
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So if you are about to march into the lion’s den it makes perfect sense to toss a side of beef in beforehand. The White House has shown itself willing to sell out to any special interest willing to help them slather lipstick on the health “reform” pig. They cut deals with friend and foe alike, knowing that they need all the help they can get to contravene the will of the American public to take over one sixth of the nation’s economy.

So we now have a high-profile test case. But the test is not whether laws or regulations exist that stand in the way of the Comcast-NBC deal. What we are about to learn from the way the administration and Senate Democrats handle the investigation and scrutiny of this transaction, is just how much political pandering will buy you under Washington’s current power structure.

No one should bother chiming in with the endless examples of special interests lending political support to officials in exchange for favorable treatment. The point here is not that this is the first time someone has tried this. The point (that is seemingly being made on a daily basis) is that this administration promised, ad nauseum, that they would be different, unprecedented, if you will, in their level of integrity, transparency and overall sanctimony, and so far, they have come up short rather consistently.

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