Comcast's election giving rose as NBCU deal weighed

Comcast Corp. increased political giving by more than half as the biggest U.S. cable company sought federal approval to buy General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal.

From December 2009, when the deal was reached, through August, Philadelphia-based Comcast's contributions to federal candidates and political parties rose to $1.1 million from $682,450 in the same period two years earlier, Federal Election Commission records show. The money came from the company-run political action committee that funnels donations from employees.

The Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department are weighing the proposed acquisition, which would give Comcast control of the NBC television network, 11 cable channels such as MSNBC and USA Network, and a movie studio. Ninety-one of the 99 House members and three of the five senators who wrote the FCC urging support for the $28 billion merger received donations from Comcast in the election cycle that began Jan. 1, 2009, sometimes within days of the letters.

"That's buying political favors," Mark Cooper, research director of the Consumer Federation of America in Washington, said in an interview. "This full-court press on Congress is out of the ordinary."

Comcast's political action committee became the sixth-biggest-spending contributor for 2010 candidates among corporations, up from ninth place in 2008, federal records show. The companies announced the deal Dec. 3.

Sena Fitzmaurice, a Comcast spokeswoman, said in an interview that there was a "modest uptick" in contributions, "primarily due to the increased number of House and Senate seats that are competitive this cycle." In the U.S. Senate, where 37 seats are being contested in the Nov. 2 election, 25 are in states where the company has operations, she said.

Deal critics Dish Network Corp., DirecTV, and the American Cable Association, a trade group of cable companies, also have increased their political giving. Their federal contributions rose 3 percent, to $382,550, from December 2009 to August over the same period two years earlier.

Bloomberg L.P., the parent of Bloomberg News, is among companies and advocacy groups that have filed papers opposing the Comcast-NBCU merger as it is proposed.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski declined to say at a Sept. 23 news conference when the agency would complete its review of the merger.

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, wrote to the FCC on Aug. 18, saying the deal "could be beneficial to the public," three weeks after Comcast gave $2,500 to his leadership political action committee. Menendez said in an interview that he sent the letter because "it's unique to see both companies who have high performance come together."