A senior official with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) testified yesterday that the proposed Comcast-NBCU merger would lead to job cuts, aggravate the already anti-competitive behavior of the cable industry and restrict consumer access to the online video content of their choice.

In remarks before a field hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, CWA District 9 Vice President James Weitkamp stressed that the public must be protected from the significant harms created by a merger of such unprecedented scale.
 
"The Comcast/NBCU merger is not in the public interest. Federal regulators cannot endorse this merger without carefully considering the significant impact the merging companies will have on video competition, choice and jobs," Weitkamp said.

CWA represents 700,000 employees nationwide, including workers at both Comcast and NBC-Universal. Weitkamp’s comments echoed those made earlier this year by CWA President Larry Cohen in testimony before the full Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill.

"The Internet allows consumers access to the video content of their choice, unmediated by the pre-packaged bundles of the cable company. A combined Comcast-NBCU could limit consumers’ online access to NBC content, or it could charge consumers higher prices to access that content unless they are cable subscribers. This is the ‘TV Everywhere’ model that Comcast and NBC have already begun to deploy, which forces Internet customers to buy cable packages in order to see content online," Weitkamp said.

Further, a Comcast-NBCU combination will result in the loss of good jobs and depress labor standards for those who still have jobs after a merger, Weitkamp said. The merged company would add an additional $8 billion to the current debt load, giving the new company the choice of cutting jobs and/or raising cable prices.

The Daily

Subscribe
Wednesday–June 18

Doing Good

Fifteen rising college juniors are set to get $20,000 scholarships each as part of the Spectrum Scholars program. It’s the fifth class since Charter introduced the program in 2020, having awarded $1.8

Read the Full Issue
The Skinny is delivered on Tuesday and focuses on the cable profession. You'll stay in the know on the headlines, topics and special issues you value most. Sign Up

Calendar

Sep 11
2025 Faxies Awards Faxies Nominations Open! Final deadline: 4/4/25
Full Calendar

Jobs

Seeking an INDUSTRY JOB or hiring for one?
VIEW JOBS

In conjunction with our sister brand, Cynopsis, we are offering hiring managers a deep pool of media-savvy, skilled candidates at a range of experience levels and sectors. The result will be an even more robust industry job board, to help both employers and job seekers.

Contact Carley Ashley, [email protected], for more information about posting a job on the website and our Jobs newsletter, sent twice weekly to 85,000 media professionals.