Sen. Al Franken wants the FCC and Justice Department to investigate Comcast for what he says is possible anticompetitive conduct by the company that could raise customer rates.
The Minnesota Democrat, an opponent of Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal last year, noted that Comcast agreed to certain conditions set by the Federal Communications Commission when the agency approved the deal.
Franken said Comcast seems to be dragging its feet on some of those conditions, designed to ensure that Comcast allows competitors access to its airwaves and does not promote NBCU-owned content over that of other companies.
In a statement, Comcast said it has met or exceeded the merger conditions.
To argue that Comcast has engaged in anticompetitive behavior, Franken cited its recent dispute with Bloomberg TV. The FCC ruled last week that Bloomberg, which sought locations on the dial close to those of major cable networks like MSNBC, Fox News and CNN, must be given more desirable locations. Comcast has said it will appeal.
Franken chided the FCC for taking 10 months to rule for Bloomberg.
"Such a delay is unacceptable if the merger conditions are to be effectively enforced," he said.
He also said he had heard from several independent channels that they "fear retaliation if they file a complaint against Comcast," and said at least one online video distributor has "encountered problems negotiating programming deals with Comcast." He did not name the distributor.
Franken asked the FCC and Justice Department to look into Comcast's announcement that it would exempt its "Xfinity on Demand" service from broadband data caps, a decision that he said could violate net neutrality rules.
Comcast said in its statement that the only complaint about its compliance with the merger conditions has come from "another very large media company, Bloomberg LLP -- and it has been preliminarily adjudicated."
The company also said its XFinity app for the Xbox did not stream content over the open Internet and was not subject to the FCC's rules.
Franken worked for NBC for years prior to its acquisition by Comcast as a writer and occasional performer on "Saturday Night Live."
