Cable operator Comcast and Verizon Wireless are planning the joint marketing of their services in San Francisco, prompting concern from The Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, the Wall Street Journal reported. The companies began offering customers discounts on bundles of mobile, cable-TV, landline and residential internet services in Seattle and Portland in January. Senator Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat and chairman of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, said he would hold a hearing on the marketing deal, as well as Verizon Wireless's recent agreements to buy frequency licenses from several cable companies. Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, sent a letter to the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission urging them to closely scrutinize the deals. The Justice Department's Antitrust Division is already investigating them, a spokesperson said. The marketing alliance "would seem to carve up the marketplace for cable, broadband and wireless-phone service," Franken wrote. "These joint-marketing agreements will turn these rival companies into partners, rather than competitors, and could ultimately mean less competition, less choice and higher prices for consumers," he said. Their comments come after consumer groups and other critics raised concerns that the deal will blunt previously fierce competition between cable and telecom companies for video customers. The companies are testing out their marketing agreement in areas where their TV services don't overlap, but they could eventually extend to areas where they do, people familiar with the matter said. Critics say the deal is a cease-fire, with cable getting out of the wireless business and Verizon Wireless ceding television to companies like Comcast. Verizon declined to comment, but has said it will continue to compete with Comcast for customers. Comcast also declined to comment.
