Comcast Won't Promote Policy Positions in Super Bowl

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Comcast won't use the Super Bowl megaphone, being wielded by Comcast-owned NBC on Feb. 1, to promote its policy positions, including pushing its merger with Time Warner Cable.

The Super Bowl is the largest captive TV audience of the year and Comcast has spots to run. It has aired ads in the Washington market talking up the advantages of the merger, including that Comcast is the only ISP subject to the FCC's 2010 Open Internet rules (thanks to conditions on its merger with NBCU).

But despite that national, make that international, platform, according to a Comcast spokesperson, there will be no policy or deal ads in the big game. Of course, if Comcast had reserved a 30-second national spot for its own message it would have meant giving up a potential $4.5 million sales opportunity.

For the full story go to Multichannel.com.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.