Just FYI... This Thursday, February 4th at 9:30 am, the House Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet will hold a hearing titled, "An Examination of the Proposed Combination of Comcast and NBC Universal." It will be held in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building and the Committee members were kind enough to ask me to come up and say a few words. Here's the witness list:

• Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO, Comcast Corporation


• Jeff Zucker, President and CEO, NBC Universal


• Colleen Abdoulah, President and CEO, WOW! Internet, Cable, and Phone


• Mark Cooper, Ph.D., Director of Research, Consumer Federation of America


• Michael J. Fiorile, President and COO, The Dispatch Printing Company, Chair of the NBC Affiliates Board


• Adam D. Thierer, President, Progress and Freedom Foundation

For those interested, the hearing will be webcast at www.energycommerce.house.gov. There's also another hearing Thursday on the same issue over in the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. It's titled, "The Comcast/NBC Universal Merger: What Does the Future Hold for Competition and Consumers?" and it will take place in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 226 at 2:30 p.m. It too will be webcast live.

Incidentally, I wrote a paper back about the proposed deal back in December entitled, "A Brief History of Media Merger Hysteria: From AOL-Time Warner to Comcast-NBC" as well as this editorial for Forbes.