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Generally speaking, antitrust regulators are most worried about mergers that create monopolies that can raise the prices of goods and services when customers have few or no other choices. But officials should be just as concerned about deals that turn a business into a dominant buyer that can make or break its suppliers.
An all-powerful cable company, for example, would be able to influence and control what Americans could watch or read by refusing to carry channels or certain Internet services, or it could favor its own content. Comcast, for example, might find it tempting to treat programming from NBC Universal, which it owns, better than shows from rival networks and movie studios.
Officials at the antitrust division of the Department of Justice and the F.C.C., who have spoken recently about the importance of competition in the increasingly concentrated communications industry, need to study this deal closely. If they find that the merger would give Comcast too much power, the agencies can demand that the company make significant divestments (Comcast has offered to divest three million customers to get regulators to look upon the deal favorably) or they could sue to block the acquisition altogether.
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shaun james bockert 