Consumer Federation of America: FCC Needs to Rein In Media Oligarchs

The Consumer Federation of America is strongly opposed to the AT&T-Time Warner merger, which is no surprise, but is using the presence of four already consolidated media companies, including AT&T, to push for a quartet of items currently before the Federal Communications Commission. CFA issued a new paper suggesting the media industry is a "tight oligopoly on steroids"—AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Charter—that needs repairing through those industry actions. CFA said disallowing any further consolidation through an AT&T-Time Warner merger is a no brainer, but that trying to break up the others, though likely its preference, could take "decades of litigation" that might or might not bear fruit or in this case pare the trees.