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Comcast packs 'em in at FCC hearing

The company admits it hired people off the street to save places for its employees. But some, apparently, also took up some of the precious few seats, displacing potential critics.

Jon Skillings Editorial director
Jon Skillings is an editorial director at CNET, where he's worked since 2000. A born browser of dictionaries, he honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing for tech publications -- including at PC Week and the IDG News Service -- back when the web was just getting under way, and even a little before. For CNET, he's written on topics from GPS, AI and 5G to James Bond, aircraft, astronauts, brass instruments and music streaming services.
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  • 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish).
Jon Skillings

Comcast got an earful from critics at Monday's FCC hearing on the campus of Harvard Law School, but did the cable company manage to shut out some unsympathetic folks? That would seem to be the case--Comcast acknowledges that it hired people off the street to stand in line for the meeting, ostensibly just to save places for its employees. But some, apparently, also stayed for the hearing to take up some of the precious few seats and, presumably, displace Comcast foes.

Read the details at Portfolio.com: "Grassroots Support? Or Astroturf?"