And the big just keep on getting bigger.
The Federal Communications Commission is putting off for a day its consideration of AT&T Inc.’s proposed takeover of BellSouth Corp., a mega-merger that some government officials want to examine more closely.
It looks like the pendulum is swinging the other way.
And I thought Google paying $1.7 billion for YouTube was wild. This is 70 times bigger!
An FCC vote is the final major regulatory hurdle facing the $78.5 billion deal that would create the nation’s biggest provider of telephone, wireless and broadband Internet services.
Man, that's hard to fathom. Off hand, I think that's bigger than Bill Gates' net worth. But some members of Congress are concerned.
Some members of Congress oppose the merger, and two FCC commissioners questioned its impact on consumers even after the Justice Department gave its unconditional approval to the buyout on Wednesday after finding no potentially adverse effects on competition.
There's one specific issue that's also holding things up.
...the FCC is to take up the AT&T proposal as well as a controversial issue known as “network neutrality,” which deals with whether Internet service providers must provide equal treatment to all traffic on their networks.
Wow. This is both scary and encouraging. Scary because with fewer choices, options are limited. Encouraging because when consumers are given fewer choices, and amazing thing generally happens in this most productive economy the world has ever known. It's called innovation. Some bright entrepreneur will see a niche they can fill in the marketplace and they'll find a way to fill it. In the meantime, things could get bumpy.
If the deal wins final government approval, the merger would give San Antonio-based AT&T total control over the nation’s largest cellular provider, Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of the two companies that serves 57.3 million customers.
Not long ago, there was a forced breakup of the phone company "monopoly". I remember the "Baby Bells". Now it seems that large conglomerates are all the rage again.
Economics is cyclical in nature. Everything old is new again, it seems. In the meantime, I hope you can still "hear me now".
Comment Preview