Barbour Joins in to Support Comcast/NBCU

Mississippi governor plugs Comcast's broadband deployment

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/25/2010 5:27:15 PM

Mississippi's governor is the latest to join the list of home-state governors weighing in in support of the Comcast/NBCU joint venture.

In a letter filed in the FCC docket on the venture, Governor Haley Barbour joined the governors of California, New York and Pennsylvania, where Universal, NBC and Comcast are headquartered, respectively.

Comcast was founded in Mississippi, and still employees 1,300 workers there, Barour pointed out.

Barbour also put in a plug for Comcast's broadband deployment, saying it has continued to invest "despite one of the worst economic climates in 70 years."

He asked the commission to swiftly approve the deal so Comcast could spread its "positive corporate culture" to the new joint operation.

The FCC's informal 180-day shot clock is set to run out in December if there are no more stoppages and it follows through on a June 3 restart. It stopped the clock while it collected more economic analysis and gave commenters a chance to digest the BitTorrent decision reversing an FCC finding against Comcast for blocking/impeding perr-to-peer file sharing.

The commission also last week asked for a laundry list of answers to questions about the operations of both companies, a good sign say those pushing the FCC to meet its end-of-the-year deadline.