NPR:
Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, is buying a controlling stake in NBC Universal which has broadcast and cable networks and a movie studio. The deal would make Comcast one of the nation’s most powerful players in news and entertainment.
The possible ramifications of this are scary. What if Comcast decides to charge other cable companies more to carry NBC? What if they only allow NBC programming to be streamed online to their own Internet customers? This is a step backwards.
Anytime a provider has control of content, the subscribers have fewer options. Here’s what I wrote about AOL back in April:
Outside of poor business decisions, my biggest problem with AOL has always been the fact that they offered a limited view of the Internet. In other words, the Internet service providers were also playing the role of content providers.
It’s the same situation now, just on a much larger scale.