Hulu fans, this post's for you.
In the wake of last month's heated committee hearing with executives from NBC and Comcast, Sen. Al Franken wanted some guarantees that the companies would continue to offer their content online on sites like Hulu.com after the proposed merger.
Their responses, however, were a far cry from binding proclamations.
While both companies emphasized their commitment to mass distribution of content, they largely argued that broad promises would be unwise in such a rapidly evolving media environment. In other words, "We'll try, but business is business."
Here are PDFs of responses sent this week to Franken's office from Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and NBC CEO Jeff Zucker. Below are the key portions of their rather lengthy letters:
Will you guarantee that your company won't remove its current shows from the Internet?
NBC: "[I]t would be irresponsible to guarantee that anything will forever remain static...NBC Universal remains committed to providing viewers with the ability to access programs that they want, when and where they want, under a sustainable business model that provides a reasonable return on investment. And specifically, NBC Universal has no plans to remove the kind of shows currently offered over the Internet on an ad-supported basis -- generally, programs that have previously been on over-the-air broadcast television."
Comcast: "[I]t would be premature to set in stone any plans with respect to putting content online in any particular fashion...The joint venture will accelerate our goal of making more, not less, content available online."
