Stewart Mocks Baker's Decision to Leave FCC For Comcast
May 18, 2011
| 11:01 AM
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart had some fun Monday with Federal Communications Commission member Meredith Attwell Baker's decision to leave the agency in June to take a job with Comcast just a few months after she voted to approve the cable provider's acquisition of NBC Universal.
After showing a news report noting Baker's complaints about the cumbersome and lengthy process the FCC uses to examine mergers, Stewart said, "Good for you Madam Commissioner, cutting through the red tape to save time and money for the American taxpayer. Finally, someone in government who is not just looking out for No. 1. I see big things for Meredith Baker."
He then ran a Fox News clip reporting on Baker's decision to leave the commission for Comcast and ran a tag line, "Well that was fast."
Meanwhile, one of the critics of the Comcast merger, ivi TV, has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FCC seeking all of Baker's correspondence related to ivi TV. Ivi and others have criticized Baker's decision to join Comcast.
Ivi, which is battling a copyright infringement suit filed by NBC and the other big networks, is seeking "any and all documents, including e-mails, sent or received by former Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker or her staff in which our company, ivi, Inc. or our service ivi TV is referenced," the company said in its FOIA request filed Friday.
Ivi officials met with Baker and a staff member in December prior to the FCC's January vote on the merger to detail ivi's concerns with the deal but said they were dismayed by Baker's open support for the merger. An ivi spokesman said the company filed the FOIA request to see if there are any "conflicts of interest, collusion and the like."
Baker's staff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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