Power Watch

Merger Mania
in the Telecommunications Industry

Merger Mania Since the Telecom Act

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 "was passed in virtual secrecy, without any discussion of of its long-range consequences. " It "legitimizes monopolies" and "unleashes them on the global market."

-- George Gerbner, Cultural Environment Movement

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"...I knew that all corporate leaders get special attention in Washington. But the ones who are the most feared are media corporations..."

-- Ben H. Bagdikian (from a forthcoming new book, We the Media: A Media & Democracy Field Guide, edited by IAJ, to be published by the New Press this fall. Bagdikian is also the author of the original landmark study, The Media Monopoly, 1983.

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"The Disney purchase is the latest manifestation of irresistible global and economic forces demanding integration and conformity. The fashionable term for all this vertical and lateral corporate integration is synergy, but synergy turns out to be just another word for monopoly."

-- Benjamin Barber, New York Times

Significant Mergers in the Telecommunications Industry

Historic Siituation:

1919 - Westinghouse, AT&T, and United Fruit create RCA which operates the American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

1927 - CBS Columbia Broadcasting System created.

1926 - RCA creates NBC The National Broadcasting Company , from AT&T.

1932 - RCA's control of both networks (ABC, NBC) declared in violation of anti-trust laws.

1943 - RCA sells ABC to Edward J. Noble for $8 million.

1953- ABC merges with Paramount Theaters

1985 - General Electric purchases RCA.

1985 - Capital Cities acquires ABC. for $3.5 billion.

1986 -General Electric acquires NBC


1986 - CBS acquires the Loews Corporation

1989 - Time, Inc. merges with Warner Corporation. This formed the largest cable-media conglomerate in the world. The combined company has a total value of 18 billion dollars.

1993 - Viacom, Inc.consumes Paramount Communications in a 8.2 billion dollar deal.

1994 - Cable firms TCI, Cox Enterprises and Comcast join Sprint.

1995 - Westinghouse buys CBS for 5.4 billion dollars

1995 - Disney purchases Capital Cities/ABC for 19 billion dollars

Merger Mania Since the Telecom Act

1996 - Time Warner merges with Turner Broadcasting (CNN) in a 6.7 billion dollar becoming the largest media corporation in the world.

1966 - The A. H. Belo Corporation buys the Providence Journal Company for 1.5 billion dollars. This gives them 16 television stations as well as major newspapers.

1996 - Worldcom Inc. (long distance) buys MFS Communications (local) for 12.4 billion dollars and created the first local/long distance phone company since1984.

1996 - Chancellor Broadcasting Company buys 12 radiostations from Colfax Communications for 365 million dollars. It now has 53 stations in 15 markets.

1996 - Tribune Company purchases Renaissance Communications for 1.13 billion dollars. It now has 16 stations and access to a third of the nation's TV households.

1996 - Clear Channel Communications adds more radio stations and now, with more than 100, is second only to Westinghouse.

1996 - British Telecommunications buys MCI for $23 billion .

1996 - U.S. West pays $10.8 billion for control of Continental Cablevision.

1996 - SBC and Pacific Telesis, two Baby Bells, merge in a 16.7 million dollar deal.

1996 - Nynex buys Bell Atlantic Corp for 22.1 billion dollars and becames the laargest regional telephone company in the U.S.

1996 - News Corp., owned by Rupert Murdoch, buys New World Communications Group Inc. for 10.8 billion dollars. This gives News Corp a total of 22 outlets, more than any other television station owner in the nation.

1996 - The new Westinghouse/CBS media giant buys Infinitty Broadcasting for 4.9 billion dollars. This gives them 77 stations and makes them a dominant power in the radio market.

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