The Wall Street Journal ran a story today discussing the potential regulatory challenges to a Comcast acquisition of NBC Universal.

What these stories seem to miss is that this a DEFENSIVE move by Comcast, not an aggressive move against its rivals.

Comcast is NOT buying NBC to seek an "unfair" advantage in its cable markets.

The real motivation behind this deal (I believe) is survival. Comcast understands that the price point for distributing TV into homes is going to fall dramatically in the coming years. Comcast's 3 distribution products, Voice - TV - Internet, are collapsing into just one, single product: Internet. This poses a huge threat to Comcast's top line.

As such, Comcast is hedging through diversification into content, moving up the media value chain. Comcast will be looking to replace lost revenue in distribution with revenue from content (advertising, subscriptions, etc). At it's core, it's that simple.

Therefore, I believe Comcast will be willing to live with any reasonable regulatory restrictions the government slaps on this deal.