Sports Technology & Communications News from Around the World

Sports plays an important role in American culture and nowhere is it more obvious than in the negotiations between Comcast and NBC Universal.

 

According to a Reuters (News - Alert) report, sports programming could wind up as the center of the battle between the two organizations as smaller cable companies fear Comcast (News - Alert) will jack up its fees for its sports channels.

Matthew Polka, president of the American Cable Association, said in the Reuters piece, “Sports is certainly a major part of this merger.” Polka’s group does not oppose the deal, but is demanding hard and fast conditions in an effort to protect its members.

One of the key demands is that members of the American Cable Association be charged the same carriage fees for Comcast-owned channels as those levied against Comcast.

Sports programming is among the most expensive to produce and Polka is worried costs could go up if professional and college sports sought to play Comcast’s Versus off against ESPN (News - Alert) negotiations. “I can tell you that the leagues are going to charge even more,” Polka said.

Comcast has not yet commented on the issue, although CEO Brian Roberts and NBC Univseral’s Jeff Zucker are slated to argue the consumer benefits of the joint venture on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

“The new venture will lead to increased investment in NBCU by putting these important content assets under the control of a company that is focused exclusively on the communication and entertainment industry,” as noted in their joint testimony. “Investment and innovation will also preserve and create sustainable media and technology jobs.”

If the deal is approved, Comcast would get 51 percent of a new joint venture that includes NBC Universal (News - Alert), which is valued at $30 billion, and Comcast’s own cable networks, valued at another $7.25 billion. The remaining 49 percent would be owned by GE. In the transaction, Comcast would contribute $6.5 billion in cash and its cable networks for payment.

This isn’t the only deal Comcast has up its sleeve. The confirmed today its plans to acquire New Global Telecom, a Golden, Colo.-based VoIP services provider. The acquisition is yet another competitive swipe at telecom companies in an effort by a cable company to try to capture a piece of the SMB and enterprise business market.

In December, the company announced it brought its 4G high speed wireless data service High-Speed 2go to Seattle and its surrounding areas. The service will be available to subscribers bundled along with one or more of Comcast’s Internet, phone and television products and can be accessed via wireless data cards.