House lawmakers wrote a letter to Comcast and Time Warner Cable asking the cable companies to offer more Latino-owned channels after their potential merger.

"Unfortunately, independent Latino program providers operate on an uneven playing field that threatens to limit the Latino community's access to their important perspectives," the letter from 53 lawmakers to Brian Roberts, Comcast CEO, and Rob Marcus, Time Warner Cable CEO, reads according to Variety. "For years, the nation's largest mainstream program providers have continued to attract available channel capacity and fees from cable and satellite providers while independent program providers struggle to gain access to channels, let alone fees, for their program offerings."

Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif., leads the campaign, Deadline reports. In the letter, Cardenas and the other representatives explain to the companies their responsibility to the Latino community; if the two companies merge into one, the company will be the cable provider to over 90 percent of Latino households in the country, the lawmakers said.

"For most of the Latinos in our nation, merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable would mean one company controlling their window to the world of culture and entertainment," Cardenas said in a statement according to Variety.

The representatives continued the letter by asking Comcast and Time Warner Cable to make a "formal commitment" to offer independently owned Latino channels. They also praised the two companies for already considering Latinos in their programming, but "in today's increasingly consolidated media environment, these program providers are facing new challenges in addition to their historic disadvantage in the marketplace."

In a response letter to the lawmakers, David L. Cohen, Comcast executive vice president, argued that Comcast already has the "best in class in the industry," when it comes to Latino programming.

"Through the transaction with Time Warner Cable, we are committed to bringing high-quality Hispanic content to millions of additional Americas," Cohen said in the letter. "My only caveat is that the importance of independent and Hispanic programming, which we are excelling at delivering, should not be confused by parochial business interests seeking more money and distribution for themselves."

The potential merger is under a public interest review by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice.
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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