Washington – Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA) President and CEO Jean Prewitt called for strong conditions to protect diversity of programming and varied voices. Representing the trade association for independent producers and distributors worldwide before the House Judiciary Committee, Prewitt criticized the merger of Comcast and NBC for threatening source diversity and the choice of the American people. Prewitt’s testimony asserted that investment decisions and regulation rulings over the past 15 years have promoted consolidation and uniformity, undermining all facets of the independent industry and notably damaging the availability of quality children’s programming. “The public loses when they are limited to ‘major conglomerate brands’and cross-promotable programming produced by the gatekeepers – and are not exposed to the diversity and breadth that independent programmers offer,” Prewitt said. The merger of Comcast and NBC has implications beyond traditional network broadcasting, affecting newer media that have only recently entered the spotlight, including Video On Demand and Internet Video On Demand through such web sites as Hulu.com. As independently created programming is shut out of network television, “it is automatically shut out of commercial Internet distribution opportunities that may follow,” she said. As a result of the merger, “Comcast is able – and apparently ready and willing – to define a marketplace that is merely a closed system,” Prewitt testified. “This is a step that can deprive the American public of meaningful choices in the content it is offered and that will undermine the ongoing viability of independent production in the new media environment.”