Senate to grill Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner Cable execs at antitrust hearing

Executives from Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and other MSOs will soon face questions about their recent spectrum and marketing deals at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights.

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), the chairman of the subcommittee, said Wednesday that he wants to ensure that consumers won't have to pay higher prices for cable and mobile phone service as a result of the agreements Verizon has reached with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks.

"The subcommittee carefully examines questions about competition in the wireless and video markets, with the ultimate goal of protecting consumers and reducing their cable and cell phone bills, and these deals are no exception," Kohl said in a prepared statement.

Kohl didn't set a date for the hearing, and the committee hasn't yet finalized the witness list.

In December, SpectrumCo, a company backed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House, signed a $3.6 billion deal to sell broadband wireless spectrum to Verizon. The cable MSOs and Verizon also signed marketing agreements which allow the companies to market each other's products to consumers. Cox reached separate deals with Verizon to sell spectrum and market cable and mobile phone service.

Comcast and Verizon recently kicked off joint promotions in Seattle, San Francisco and Portland, Ore., and Time Warner Cable says it will run promotions with Verizon Wireless in several markets during the first half of 2012.

For more:
- The Hill has this story
- FierceWireless has this story

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