The Wire was monitoring that indispensable cable-provided public service outlet, C-SPAN, when Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) came to the witness table to testify against Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a fellow member of the Judiciary Committee and Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general.

One senator testifying against another at a nomination hearing is almost unheard of. Booker conceded it was an “exceptional” move, but said he had to put the country and his conscience above senatorial tradition.

While he began his testimony by acknowledging he had worked collegially, and with mutual respect, with Sessions on legislation, the thrust of his testimony was the following:

“Senator Sessions has not demonstrated a commitment to a central requirement of the job – to aggressively pursue the congressional mandate of civil rights, equal rights and justice for all. In fact, at numerous times in his career, he has demonstrated a hostility toward these convictions and has worked to frustrate attempts to advance these ideals,” he said. But there was more.

“If confirmed, Senator Sessions will be required to pursue justice for women, but his record indicates that he won’t.

“He will be expected to defend the equal rights of gay and lesbian Americans, but his record indicates that he won’t.

“He will be expected to defend voting rights, but his record indicates that he won’t.

“He will be expected to defend the rights of immigrants and affirm their human dignity, but his record indicates he won’t.

“His record indicates that as attorney general he would obstruct the growing national bipartisan movement toward criminal justice reform.”

The Wire’s assessment: Hardly an endorsement.

Having gotten C-SPAN’s unfiltered view of the testimony, imagine our surprise when President-elect Trump’s transition team emailed a glowing press release under the headline: “What They Are Saying: U.S. Sen. Schumer and Top Democrats Praise U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions,” and leading with this: “Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ): ‘Blessed And Honored to Have Partnered With Senator Sessions’ in Passing Legislation That Awarded 1965 Voting Rights Marches Foot Soldiers With the Congressional Gold Medal.” But the release conveniently omitted the “thrust” of the testimony.

It reminded us of those dot-dot-dot movie reviews, like: “I wish I could … see … it again,” when the review was: “I wish I could have left the theater after the opening credits. I hope I never see it or its like again.”

The Wire asked Booker’s office for any comment on the Trump team’s selective take on the senator’s testimony. A staffer suggested it spoke for itself. Well, at least on C-SPAN it did.

CES 2017: This Is Not The Android TV Box You’re Looking For

CES, the annual gadget-fest in Las Vegas, typically borders on the surreal and the real when it comes to the consumer products that are on display on the floor. While many are products that will come to retail this year, others are better placed in the wishful thinking category.

Such was the case again this month when, at CES, multiple news outlets stumbled on and reported about an Android TV-powered device supposedly branded by Disney. Word was that The Mouse was on the cusp of launching a customized, kid-friendly $99 OTT box, called Kids TV, that would come pre-packed with exclusive Disney content.

Or not.

According to an official for SnakeByte, a maker of gaming accessories that had the device on display, the box reported on was merely a “speculative prototype” being demonstrated as the company looked to enter exploratory talks about obtaining a license from Disney for some EMEA territories.

But it was likewise strange that the reports talked up specific details like pricing and product launch timing, with one report noting that a Disney-branded tablet was also in the works.

The Wire (which failed to be snake-bitten, at least not this time) hears that those news outlets were apparently given some not-ready-for-primetime info from an overly exuberant person at the SnakeByte booth.

— Jeff Baumgartner

The Judiciary Committee held a marathon, three-hour hearing on the proposed Comcast/TWC merger with both Democrats and Republicans raising issues about the impact of the deal on availability of programming, prices to consumers, and access to broadband.

Committee chairman Patrick Leahy suggested the combination of the number one and number two cable operators raised issues about market power and network neutrality, seconded by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who presided over much of the hearing, and Rep. Mike Lee (R-Utah).

Leahy made it clear he sees potential consumer harms in the deal on both the video and broadband access sides: "In 1996, I voted against the Telecommunications Act in part because of concerns I had about the lack of competition in the cable TV market," he said. "Along with many consumers, I continue to be concerned. Similar questions are now being raised about the broadband industry, where consumers feel like they face large bills and inadequate choices."

He said consumers want to know why their cable bills keep going up, why they don’t have more choice of providers, and why the merger is good for them.

Leahy asked Comcast executive vice president David Cohen whether he would be willing to extend Comcast's commitment to network neutrality rules beyond 2018. Cohen would only say that he thought that would happen anyway given the FCC's effort to recraft no-blocking and antidiscrimination rules, an effort Comcast has said it supports.

Rep. Lee said that it was an extremely large transaction affecting cable and broadband and that where the stake are high, as they are in terms of access to the Internet, any potential anticompetitive effects must be scrutinized “very carefully.”

Lee also raised the issue of whether a combined Comcast/TWC could limit access to conservative voices on their outlets.

Comcast's Cohen said that had been one of the most heavily litigated issue around and that the FCC had concluded that having less than 30% of subs, as the combined company would have, did not represent a threat to access to content.

While Cohen asserted there were no anticompetitive problems with the deal given no geographic overlap between the two companies' systems, but numerous legislators, mostly Democrats, but not solely, suggested the size of the combined company in video as well as broadband access--the number one and number three ISPs--represented potential incentive and ability to discriminate against online video competition, or to have too much power over programming prices, access to must-have NBCU content, or equipment prices.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) took Cohen to task about his prepared testimony in which he said of the 150 conditions in the NBCU deal -- many of which Comcast is pledging to extend to the TWC deal -- the FCC only looked at one of those, and that was resolved. Comcast and the FCC struck a consent decree in which Comcast paid a fine and agreed to better market the availability of stand-alone broadband.

Franken pointed out that the FCC had also "looked" at the neighborhooding condition, and ultimately found that Comcast had not met that condition with regards to Bloomberg Tv. Cohen countered that the neighborhooding condition had been about interpretation of a condition, and when the FCC clarified what a neighborhood meant, Comcast complied and remains the top distributor of Bloomberg TV.

Franken was not assuaged. The Senator made it clear he opposed the deal, saying it would mean higher prices less choice for his constituents.

Cohen could not promise the deal would lower consumer prices, but said nothing in the deal would raise them, either.

Cohen talked up the benefits, faster speeds, more VOD, a more secure network, and even took the opportunity to announce that Comcast was raising its 50 Mbps high-speed broadband service to 105 mbps, and its 105 Mbps to 150, all for no extra charge.

While Cohen and University of Pennsylvania law school professor Christopher Yoo testified the deal would have no anticompetitive impacts on the video or broadband marketplace, and the Comcast EVPP outlined the benefits, Public Knowledge President Gene Kimmelman, saw the deal very differently.

Invoking a Jules Verne-like image, Kimmelman suggested the combined companies would be an octopus-like creature with its arms around nearly 50% of high speed Internet access subs, over 30% of MVPD customers, and almost 60% of cable subscribers.

"The proposed transaction is inconsistent with antitrust policy, the goals of the Communications Act, and the broader public interest. Therefore, it should not be approved," he said. Kimmelman was concerned about access to NBC programming, and what he said was Comcast's incentive and ability to use the combined ISP footprint to find ways to disadvantage online competitors, whether raising their prices for access--Comcast's paid peering deal with Netflix was referenced--or in other ways.

Cohen countered that the peering deal had been Netflix's idea as a way to cut out the middleman for access to the broadband backbone, a market he said remains wildly competitive and on which the Internet was built.

But Kimmelman said his concern was the control of the last mile, which he said was not so competitive.

Speaking for independent golf lifestyle network BAck9Network, James Bosworth noted that its discussions with Time Warner Cable had been productive, but were less so after the announced proposed merger with Comcast, which owns Golf Channel. TWC CFO Arthur Minson said that its programming decisions had nothing to do with the proposed merger, and would be based on the cost/value proposition and bandwidth constraints. Cohen said they had had productive meetings with Back9 as recently as this week and, while he was not a part of those, understood it to be a channel they were still considering.

Bosworth countered that the message from Comcast was that it would be keeping an eye on the channel over the next 24 months.

Leahy, whose focus was on the impact of the deal on consumers, asked Minson whether his $27 million golden parachute was consumer friendly. Minson said it was not out of line with the complexity of the transaction.