http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/current/politics/stories/merger.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Federal antitrust officials are looking at whether Time Warner Inc.'s possible takeover of Turner Broadcasting System Inc. would restrict competition in the market for movie distribution on pay cable networks, the Washington Post reported Friday.
The paper said the officials stressed no decisions had been made as the $8 billion deal was still in negotiation.
However, they said a combined Time Warner-Turner company would greatly boost the two firms' ability to produce movies and then distribute them on wholly or partially owned pay cable channels.
The merged company would in turn be owned by two more companies - Telecommunications Inc. and Seagram Co. - that own movie studios, cable systems and pay cable networks.
``I think it raises some concerns,'' one official told the Post. ``When you put all these companies together, you have a direct overlap in the movie business and an (interlocking) stake in the premium channel business.''
Time Warner is the parent of Warner Bros., the nation's biggest movie and TV studio, as well as the Cinemax and HBO, the most popular pay cable network.
Turner owns two smaller studios, New Line and Castle Rock, as well as libraries of old Warner and MGM films.
The officials are exploring whether these holdings, as well as those of the two companies that own major stakes in both companies, would work against producers seeking to distribute their films on cable, the Post said.
They were also concerned that this structure would raise prices for pay cable customers, harm other companies seeking to sell movies via other technologies, or prevent companies that own rival pay cable services from gaining a spot on the cable systems owned by Time Warner and TCI.