The Department of Justice review of Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable is examining whether Comcast lived up to promises it made the government when it purchased NBCUniversal in 2011.
To gain government approval for the NBC merger, Comcast agreed to relinquish any control over the management of Hulu, an online video streaming service co-owned by NBC, Fox, and the Disney-ABC Television Group. Yet in 2013, "executives from Walt Disney Co., 21st Century Fox and Comcast Corp. met to discuss the future of Hulu, the online video service the media companies co-own that was up for sale," a Wall Street Journal story on the merger review said last night.
Although Comcast was not supposed to influence or participate in the governance or management of Hulu, "Comcast’s assurances at the Sun Valley meeting played a significant role in how its co-owners evaluated the sale process, people familiar with the other owners’ thinking said," the Journal wrote. "Comcast told its partners it would help make Hulu the nationwide streaming video platform for the cable TV industry, which would boost the site’s growth and make it a stronger rival to Netflix. That influenced Disney and Fox’s decision to call off the sale when the conference was ending, people familiar with those companies’ thinking said. Among the top bidders for Hulu were Comcast rivals DirecTV and AT&T Inc."
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