
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993                   TAG: 9310210135
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

MERGER DRAWS PROTESTS

A former member of the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday joined Ralph Nader and other consumer activists in asking the Justice Department to block the proposed merger of cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. and Bell Atlantic Corp.

In a two-page memorandum sent to Assistant Attorney General Anne K. Bingaman, former FCC commissioner Nicholas Johnson, Nader and three others argued that the combination of TCI and Bell Atlantic "would lead to less competition and less diversity."

They also decried "attempts by large cable companies, particularly Time Warner and TCI, to leverage their monopolistic control" over local cable franchises "to obtain monopolistic control over cable programming channels."

The group's memo, which comes after recent criticism of the deal by some key lawmakers, appeared aimed at increasing pressure on the Clinton administration to re-examine the federal government's generally loose antitrust policy of the past three administrations.

Under that approach, the government has focused almost exclusively on price-fixing cases and permitted most mergers to occur.

Both Malone and Bell Atlantic chairman Raymond C. Smith - who attended a "Networked Economy" industry conference in Washington on Wednesday - expressed confidence that their proposed merger will be approved.

The two executives also insisted that the merger would promote competition in the industry. "Consumers are now paying a premium for not having a choice," Smith said.

by CNB