AT&T MediaOne Buy A Monopoly?

A number of public-interest groups last Tuesday, August 17 asked the government to stop the proposed $69 billion purchase of cable giant MediaOne by AT&T. Stating that the purchase was a ""bid to monopolize Americaís cable TV and broadband Internet markets,"" Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America and Media Access Project submitted filings to the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department. The submittal was accompanied by an economic analysis that the groups say demonstrates ""that the merger violates both the antitrust law and the market concentration limits mandated by Congress and administered by the FCC.""Consumer Federation of Americaís Research Director Mark Cooper said at a press conference that ""by combining cable monopolies that serve as much as 60 percent of the country, dominating popular cable channels and controlling critical Internet services, AT&T is attempting to thwart the development of competition through its acquisition of MediaOne.""The groupsí study asserts that the cable merger, coupled with related deals with Microsoft and Cox, would give AT&T the ability to control a majority of U.S. cable systems, dozens of the most popular cable TV channels, as well as the two dominant high-speed Internet services, and create preferential deals with set-top box manufacturers.