The Hill News

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission will soon approve the historic Comcast and NBC Universal joint venture, which, while not the largest media deal in history, will likely become symbolic of the future of 21st Century media. More than ever before, the name of the game in media is diversity: of viewpoints, content, ownership and distribution platforms. And by any standard, the marriage of Comcast and NBC Universal will promote that diversity.

One measure of this is the series of commitments that Comcast and NBC Universal have made to minority and independent programming in the context of the joint venture.  Comcast recently reached a memorandum of understanding on this with the nation’s leading civil rights leaders â€" Ben Jealous of the NAACP, Marc Morial of the National Urban League, and Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network. This agreement will set a new bar for increased minority owned or controlled televis! ion and film content on a variety of new and traditional platforms. Hopefully, other media companies will follow Comcast’s lead. 

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