STATEMENT OF
ACTING CHAIRWOMAN MIGNON CLYBURN
Re: Bloomberg L.P., Complainant v. Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, 
Defendant, MB Docket No. 11-104
Anyone around in early 2011 knows that I had many concerns about the Comcast-
NBC Universal deal, which combined the nation’s largest cable operator with the 
nation’s fourth largest owner of national cable networks. Ultimately, I voted to approve 
the transaction because I believed that if the parties lived up to their voluntary 
commitments and the conditions we imposed on them, the deal would result in more 
benefits to consumers than harms. That’s why I am pleased that we are taking this step 
today to hold Comcast to one of its commitments.
In the Order approving Comcast-NBCU, the Commission recognized that as a 
combined entity, they would have “increased ability and incentive to harm competition in 
video programming by engaging in foreclosure strategies or other discriminatory actions 
against unaffiliated video programming networks.”
1
  The Commission expressed concern 
that Comcast-NBCU could “reduce the viewership of competing video programming 
networks, which in turn could render these networks less attractive to advertisers, thus 
reducing their revenues and profits.”
2
  The Commission recognized that news 
programming is particularly important to the public interest.  Therefore, the Commission 
adopted the news “neighborhooding” condition to guard independent news channels from 
anticompetitive behavior and to help ensure a vibrant marketplace of ideas. 
In general terms, “neighborhooding” refers to the practice of grouping similarly 
themed TV channels together, such as sports, children’s programming, or news. Today’s 
decision interprets the news neighborhooding condition in the most reasonable way.  It is 
an interpretation that is supported by the record.  It is an interpretation that aligns with
industry and consumer practices.  And most importantly, it is an interpretation that 
protects independent news channels from anticompetitive harms, as the Commission 
intended.
When the Commission adopted this condition, my colleagues and I were 
concerned that Comcast-NBCU would include its affiliated programming in news 
neighborhoods and leave an independent news channel on an island to itself.  The record 
in this proceeding corroborates our concern.  Comcast overwhelmingly includes affiliated 
programming in neighborhoods of four news channels in five adjacent channel positions.  
CNBC is included in a news neighborhood in 99 percent of lineups that have news 
neighborhoods. For MSNBC, it’s 98 percent.
3
  This is for good reason:  the record also 
                                                          
1
Applications of Comcast Corporation, General Electric Company and NBC Universal, Inc. For Consent 
to Assign Licenses and Transfer Control of Licensees, 26 FCC Rcd 4238, 4284, ¶ 116 (2011).
2
Id. at 4285, ¶ 116.
3
Letter from David H. Solomon and J. Wade Lindsay, Counsel for Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, 
to William T. Lake, Chief, Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, at Attachment A, page 2 
(filed June 21, 2012).
reflects that consumers tend to “flip” between channels, particularly during breaking 
news events.
4
  Consumers’ tendency to “flip” also explains why a grouping of four news 
channels in five adjacent channel positions is so significant.  Once a viewer finds a 
channel grouping like that, she is unlikely to hunt around the dial for other news 
channels. So, to sum up, if you are a news channel, you’d better be located in the “news 
neighborhood,” or viewers are going to be significantly less likely to find you. And 
Comcast now has an incentive to keep its competitors, like Bloomberg Television, out of 
those news neighborhoods to deter viewers from flipping to them.  With this Order, we 
ensure that Comcast treats Bloomberg Television comparably to its affiliated news 
channels.  This will allow Bloomberg Television to compete on an equal footing with its 
Comcast-affiliated competitors.
As a final note, my colleagues and I frequently stress that it is always important 
for the Commission to act swiftly on complaints.  It is particularly important for us to 
resolve news neighborhooding complaints in a timely manner because the condition will 
expire in less than four and a half years.  This was a complex proceeding with an 
extensive record, and it is unusual to receive four applications for review in a proceeding 
with only two parties.  But if the Commission receives additional complaints that allege 
violation of the news neighborhooding condition, the groundwork laid in resolving this 
complaint should allow us to act on those more swiftly.  Moreover, I hope that my 
colleagues will act quickly on other matters involving conditions adopted in connection 
with this transaction.  Doing so will help safeguard the public as the Commission 
intended when it adopted the conditions in 2011.
I wish to thank the Media Bureau staff for their work on this item. 
                                                          
4
Bloomberg’s June 18 Opposition at 9-10 (citing Reply of Bloomberg at Exhibit B, ¶ 18; Exhibit C, ¶¶ 14, 
15; Exhibit E, ¶ 19; Exhibit F, ¶¶ 13, 15, 17 (filed Aug. 30, 2011)).