Congresswoman Suggests That Comcast Tried To Bribe Her To Support Merger

from the bad-day-at-the-office dept

With plenty of scrutiny still facing the proposed merger between NBC and Comcast, Representative Maxine Waters strongly suggested that someone from the company tried to bribe her to get her to support the merger:

During a House Judiciary Committee that took place in L.A. on Monday, Representative Maxine Waters stated that she had received a call from "somebody at Comcast asking, 'What do you want?'"

Waters, who has been grilling the cable giant on issues of ethnic diversity, claims she replied by explaining the need for greater diversity in media. However, Waters says the Comcast caller responded by saying, "I'm talking about what do you want?"

Comcast, not surprisingly, denies any suggested wrongdoing:

Any implication that anyone ever inquired about what Congresswoman Waters would want personally is completely untrue. We meet and discuss the proposed joint venture with many members of Congress and other leaders. We have repeatedly tried to understand Congresswoman Waters' concerns so that we can address them.

Honestly, I still don't see why there's so much concern about this merger, which strikes me as likely to be another AOL/Time Warner-type disaster for everyone involved. Still, buying off a politician seems a bit extreme, though, I would imagine that many assume this is pretty much standard operating procedures in DC. The only thing "different" is that Waters actually called Comcast on it publicly.

Filed Under: bribery, maxine waters
Companies: comcast, nbc universal