Interesting article on the merger of Comast/NBC, with mentions of Sirius/XM and AT&T/BellSouth

From Matthew Lasar at ArsTechnica:

“Good morning, this hearing will come to order, and we welcome all. I notice that there are a few people in the room,” declared Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV). “We’re here to discuss consumers—they’re the good guys, right? The people we try to protect.”

The Senator’s comment about a “few people in the room” was sarcastic, of course. The hall was filled because the subject was, once again, the proposed merger of Comcast and NBC Universal—this one held on Thursday under the auspices of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

The union—in which Comcast would control 51 percent of the new media entity and present owner General Electric with the rest—has already received at least four contentious Capitol Hill sessions, the most famous being Senator Al Franken’s (D-MN) dressing down of Comcast and NBC in February. This latest was relatively low key. But for Ars readers who want to follow the story, it was useful because both the Chair of the Federal Communications and a representative from the Department of Justice outlined how their respective agencies will each evaluate the deal…