|
II. AOL TIME WARNER MERGER
Before the merger of AOL with Time Warner was approved, some questions had been proposed for the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), taking examples, “[W]hat policies are needed to prevent AOL and Time Warner from using this extraordinary market power to their own, unfair advantage?” “What common-carriage requirements are needed to eliminate the dangers of such strategic, market-based behavior?” Would the merger cause a conflict of interest between AOL and Time Warner?
As Jeff Chester said, “the proposed merger of AOL and Time Warner should serve as a wake-up call to everyone concerned with the future of the Internet and online communications services.” The Internet will challenge the dominance of the traditional media giants and accelerate the pace of convergence , obviously, because firms have less competition in era of rapid technological change.
A. Questions about the merger
Considering the danger of using their monopoly status to manage network traffic in their own manner over their competitors (in other words, “the media conglomerates’ gain…will be society’s loss” ), the Center for Media Education (CME) submitted a list of questions to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), focusing on five areas: “content and conduit…network architecture…set-top boxes…the public interest… [and] the future of the Internet”
B. FTC’s Conditions
Considering “the merger of these two powerful companies would deny to competitors access to his amazing new broadband technology” , the FTC provided a consent order to AOL Time Warner which would be:
“● required to open its cable system to competitor ISPs;
● prohibited from interfering with content passed along the bandwidth contracted for by non-affiliated Internet service providers (ISPs) and from interfering with the ability of non-affiliated providers of interactive TV services to interact with interactive signals, triggers or content that AOL-Time Warner has agreed to carry;
● prevented from discriminating on the basis of affiliation in the transmission of content, or from entering into exclusive arrangements with other cable companies with respect to ISP services or interactive TV services; and
|
