Comcast, GE Rain Campaign Cash In Anticipation Of Merger Hearing

The Hill:

Comcast and NBC Universal's parent company have showered campaign contributions on members of two panels holding hearings Thursday on the cable giant's proposed purchase of the television network.

Comcast and General Electric have already spent $474,000 on contributions to members of the panels, about 70 percent of what they spent over the entire political cycle of 2008, according to The Hill's analysis of data on OpenSecrets.org.

Read the whole story: The Hill

Comments

[spinns17]

12:23 PM on 02/05/2010

anyone who votes for this will be in line of fire .god hep them.

[spinns17]

12:20 PM on 02/05/2010

we dont need another fox in this country.

[CJHAN]

12:03 PM on 02/04/2010

This will give them to much control of our air waves bring back the fairness doctrine now.

[michaelws]

10:53 AM on 02/04/2010

The Comcast purchase would be terrible for consumers. I am against it. 100%.

[missmanners]

08:50 AM on 02/04/2010

I always thought that would be buying votes.

I also thought it was illegal.

[ctblue]

08:31 AM on 02/04/2010

NBC is getting ready for a toilet ride. They have nothing to broadcast except the Olympics (which gets old very fast with the same old tear jerker stories). After the Olympics is over, what will they do for content? ABC, CBS, FOX have it all over NBC. Fire Jeff Zuckerman and tell Ebersol to keep his mouth shut unless he commenting on sports.

[SallieParker]

08:28 AM on 02/04/2010

"Rein IN campaign cash," surely. 474k is a mere bag o' shells.

[mrjames1]

07:58 AM on 02/04/2010

Corporations 'makin it rain' . Wow. Only in the USA

[atexasdem]

04:12 AM on 02/04/2010

And so it begins. The supreme court says that corperations can donate all they want to and within days they start. In any other country this would be called a bribe. In America it's called a campaign contribution. Now foreign countries can give campaign contributions too. I wonder how much money Iran will have to contribute before they will become the "good guys".
Frankly I think they need to change one simple thing. Relabel the politicians. Instead of " The senator from New York" It could be " The senator from General electric".How about instead of "The senator from Iowa" it might be " The senator from Cargil" The agricultural giant. Maybe Michigan could be represented by the senator from GM.
Lets at least for once have some true open government.

[ChelseaC]

03:06 AM on 02/04/2010

Great.....Comcast is right wing.

I stopped watching cable news including MSNBC(I used to like them--not anymore) as I see them as corporate media.

I prefer to watch www.democracynow.org/ real news.

[SallieParker]

08:30 AM on 02/04/2010

Corporate, yes; right-wing, no. Just as Wall Street put Obama in, corporate money takes the easiest and most profitable route.

[Hurried Harry]

09:57 AM on 02/04/2010

And now Cantor says Wall Street is having buyers remorse. So the GOP is marketing their brand to Wall Street as a better investment! What are they buying again? Democracy. Wonder how much it's going for this year.

[freecitizen1946]

01:28 AM on 02/04/2010

Let's see now Corporations are spending billions to influence congress and meanwhile congress is saying we can't afford health care. Why not just sell the government to these guys outright and action off say 500 seats in a new branch of government called the House of Commerce to create ALL laws dealing with the bottom line. This body would meet in private and with a brisk after market nobody would know exactly who was passing the laws. In other words things would be exactly as they are now but we would raise more cash and each seat holder would also acquire an equal portion of the national debt

[Vince Weiguang Li]

01:47 AM on 02/04/2010

GE has the largest lobbying expense acct of any corporation in the US>

GE owns MSNBC and has given significant funding to the Democratic Party.

GE stands to profit greatly from the push to wind power, and continued expansion of war spending.

GE is a bunch hogs eating from the public trough, but that is ok because they are our kind of hogs.

Meanwhile corporations whose views we dont agree with should be shouted down and shut up, quick pass a law so we can get take rights away from those we disagree with. All hail Big Brother.

[RAFord24]

12:34 AM on 02/04/2010

Comcast can go to hell. My cable increased due to their purchase of NBC.

[WiltonDiary]

02:47 AM on 02/04/2010

Your cable increase had nothing to do with NBC! If anything once the deal is done your bill will go down.

If you don't like Comcast you have options and that is what makes America great. You don't have a choice with healthcare, but you have a choice with cable/dish options. Don't you just love this country?

[bipartisans]

08:19 AM on 02/04/2010

My cable bill went up $46.00 this month. It is now over $200.00 for very mediocre service, and I have very few options where I live. What irks me is their attitude. They are spending millions on an anti Fios campaign, yet their own service is a joke. A 10 minute wait is the norm when calling for service. The questions asked in their polls are slanted in such a way as to make them look good. The last question asked is did they fix problem and when you answer no, that is the end of the conversation, with absolutely no follow up from them.
This is just another example of a greedy corporation preying on middle class consumers and they need to be reined in now.

[Teresa201]

09:49 AM on 02/04/2010

Why would you tell people that their bill will go down after the purchase of NBC?
Just not true.
Has Comcast ever lowered their prices........?

NO.....People don't have options.
That's why they have Comcast.

[SteveDenver]

12:24 AM on 02/04/2010

The SCOTUS pulled the trigger on this race: "Ready, get set, bend over, get stuffed!"

Let's demand absolute transparency in contributions so we can watch which politicians are most responsive to financial puppet strings.

[Vince Weiguang Li]

01:49 AM on 02/04/2010

Was that your paranoid Lizard Brain speaking?

HA HA

[michaelws]

10:58 AM on 02/04/2010

Was definitely yours responding....given there is any gray matter in there operating!

[mrjames1]

08:02 AM on 02/04/2010

Puppets are not controlled by strings. You may have been referring to marionettes. Puppets are controlled by fingers, or a whole hand, placed up the rear end. Like a republican senator :-)

[michaelws]

11:01 AM on 02/04/2010

Great analogy to Repubs and the finger! But marionettes are a classification within "puppeteering. Love your analogy....good one!

[TXfemmom]

10:33 PM on 02/03/2010

We just switched to Comcast this week, since our AT & T internet had slowed to a crawl, despite having a "professional" line. If the work which they did during the installation is any indication, I may well have made a very bad move and back to AT & T we may go.

Somehow, some way, Pelosi and Reid need to find a way to neuter the SC decision and NOW.

[Bugweed]

10:33 PM on 02/03/2010

Ah, the whores of parliament are ready with their peanut butter legs.