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

DATE: THURSDAY, September 14, 1995                   TAG: 9509140080
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

MEDIA MERGER 'UNEASE' SENSED

The wave of big telecommunication mergers is beginning to make Americans uneasy, the nation's top antitrust official said Wednesday, hours before the companies involved in one huge buyout announced that the Justice Department is reviewing the deal.

``I sense a level of unease in the country about the pace of telecommunications mergers,'' said Anne Bingaman, the assistant attorney general for antitrust matters.

Bingaman, who spoke to telecommunication attorneys, wouldn't say whether she shared that unease. She also declined to talk specifically about the Walt Disney Co.'s proposed takeover of Capital Cities/ABC Inc. and Westinghouse Electric Corp.'s planned buyout of CBS Inc.

Disney and ABC said late Wednesday that the Justice Department is reviewing the deal and has requested additional information. Both companies said they are working with the department to supply relevant information.

Disney spokesman John Dreyer said the request would not delay the planned completion of the deal over the next four to nine months. ``This is not anything out of the ordinary for a merger of this size,'' said ABC spokeswoman Julie Hoover.

Bingaman said she senses unease from ``talking to ordinary people'' and reading ``commentary in magazines and newspapers.''

She later told reporters, ``The American spirit likes populism and is sort of fearful of ... big companies. Americans get uneasy because [a big merger] is sort of against our populist roots.''

Disney announced plans July 31 to buy ABC for $19 billion, creating the nation's largest entertainment company. The next day, Westinghouse said it planned to buy CBS for $5.4 billion. Federal regulators have to approve both deals.

Bingaman pointed out that existing antitrust laws limit what the Justice Department can legally do.

But she said the pace of mergers, particularly in media, telecommunications and computers, is ``clearly going to be a major, major continuing issue for the division.

``You can't help but wonder where this is going.''

Another big continuing issue for the antitrust division, she said, will be trying to encourage competition in the local telephone business, now largely the domain of the seven regional Bell companies.

Bingaman said she hoped Congress would put stronger consumer protections, including requiring Bell companies to obtain Justice Department approval to enter new businesses, in a final telecommunication reform bill.

by CNB