According to The Washington Post, the two current stake holders of NBC Universal, Vivendi SA and General Electric, Co., are playing hardball with respect to the price of shares sold to Comcast in the proposed merger deal. Vivendi which holds a 20% stake in NBC says the current figure is ’several hundred million dollars off. While this news on the surface would appear to be a sign of some relief to consumers and sports fans, it’s really only delaying the inevitable. 

While the big players in the $30 million deal will walk away with smiles on their faces, this level of consolidation will surely bring more pain and suffering to sports fans across the country. As SFC has reported, a merged Comcast NBC giant would flex its muscles as owner of programming, distribution on the local station, and broadband in more than 11 TV markets including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, D.C., Houston, Miami, Denver, Hartford and Fresno. 

Furthermore, that list fails to include the harm Comcast currently poses to Trail Blazer fans across the state of Oregon. Fans of Portland’s NBA team are forced to pay Comcast’s ransom to watch their games.  What’s even worse is that entire regions of the state, and locals across state lines in Washington are unable to subscribe to Comcast even if they could afford to do so.

Comcast has claimed repeatedly that they would make the games available to competitors so that all Oregon could watch the games, but at what price? If Comcast is pricing out the competition, what’s the difference between this and a ‘local sports exclusive’ in which the media giant just says, ‘no’?

It’s these types of examples that spawn the action the SFC has taken in petitioning the FCC and joining a coalition, as it did on Friday, to write and send a letter directly to Comcast President and CEO Brian Roberts urging the company to withdraw it’s litigation seeking to overturn the FCC’s pro-sports fan ruling to close the ‘terrestrial loophole’.

At some point, the greed needs to stop. Sports Fans Coalition will not count on these media giants to act in the best interests of sports fans. SFC will not rest on the laurels of a positive decision by the FCC.

A delayed merger approval process does not build confidence in the company to act more socially responsible when business practices and behavior of the past will surely dictate how it will act in the future. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.