Comcast/NBC Universal merger talks extended another 4.5 months

The move to form a joint venture between cable company Comcast and content network NBC Universal has been extended by 135 days.

Today, William T. Lake, of the FCC Media Bureau announced that the application process, which was originally slated to take no more than 180 days, has been restarted at Day 45 after Comcast and NBCU submitted renewed responses. This means the bureau's review period will last nearly four and a half months before the merger can progress.

Late in 2009, cable company Comcast made the move to merge with NBC Universal with the intention of eventually forming a joint content company (to be called simply NBC Universal) that would run alongside Comcast's Xfinity pipeline company. The joint venture would be 51% owned by Comcast, 49% owned by General Electric, and managed by Comcast.

The company would combine NBCU's two broadcast television networks (NBC and Telemundo), its 26 local broadcast television stations, several national cable programming networks, a motion picture studio, international theme park businesses and online content businesses with Comcast's regional sports networks, other programming networks, and certain online businesses.

Of course, the merger raised concerns among both legislators and the entertainment industry. For many, it was the unsettling combination of a for-pay TV provider taking control of a company that produces content for free, over-the-air broadcasting.

"Clearly the concern here is that when a company that has the wire going into the home merges with a company that has all of NBC Universal's content, there could be a temptation to discriminate against others," said Representative Ed Markey (D -Mass.) in February.

For companies such as Netflix, the concern was similar, except for online services like Comcast's TV Everywhere. With that, Comcast would deliver streaming on-demand content anywhere, but only to Comcast subscribers, tying cable subscriptions with online content delivery.

"By bundling the traditional cable TV offering with Internet delivery of content, vertically integrated MVPDs and network operators are potentially extending and expanding their dominant market position at the expense of competitive online offerings," Netflix wrote in comments to the FCC.

For seven months, the deal has been going through the process of getting regulatory approval, and in May, Comcast, GE, and NBC Universal filed applications to assign and transfer control of broadcast, satellite earth station, wireless and other licenses to the NBC Universal joint venture.