[Swprograms] Sirius / XM Combo -- WSJ interviews anti-trust expert and also consumer activist

["Richard Cuff" <rdcuff@xxxxxxxxx>]

So...is the deal good for consumers?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117207428228715027.html?mod=djemTECH

Key quote from the antitrust lawyer, Donald Russell:

"Antitrust lawyers often use a simple rule of thumb -- if competitors
oppose a merger, it's usually good for consumers.  And here, the AM
and FM broadcasters, through their trade association, the National
Association of Broadcasters, are opposing the merger very strongly. "

The consumer activist, Mark Cooper, strikes me as a whiner with
knee-jerk responses.  A typical quote:

"A satellite-radio merger to monopoly is about an avalanche of
mergers. There was a key moment a decade ago when the Department of
Justice decided that a large monopolist is no worse than two smaller
monopolists and allowed the Bell Atlantic-Nynex merger to go forward.
That decision opened the door to a wave of mergers that doomed
head-to-head competition in telecommunications. The old telephone
monopoly was recreated as two huge geographically distinct monopolies
that rarely if every compete."

For most people, that last point merits a "so what?!"  in that these
firms compete with other companies in related industries in a way that
the original Bell Atlantic-Nynex firms never did.  The analogy is
highly flawed.

As a competitive analyst in my day job, I clearly award this round to
Mr. Russell.

-- 
Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA  USA

International broadcasting / shortwave blog:
http://www.intlradio.blogspot.com
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