FCC Merger Review as an Innovative Control Over Telecommunications Market in the Age of Deregulation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of the FCC in controlling media concentration in terms of the nature and pattern of the FCC’s telecommunications regulation rather than its specific policy objectives themselves. Historically, FCC regulation has been proactive and social in promoting access. While the FCC directly intervened in the market to achieve its goals in the past, currently it takes an indirect approach in consideration of the changed telecommunications market environment. Two previous approvals for the merger of the satellite radio services, XM and Sirius, and Comcast’s purchase of NBC Universal well demonstrate the FCC’s role that is proactive in its character but indirect in its method.

Keywords: antitrust, media ownership, media review, public interest, diversity, localism