AT&T
Comcast merger approved
For
more than a year, Philadelphia-based Comcast Corporation has
been awaiting final approval of its bid to buy AT&T Broadband,
which finally came from the FCC on November 13, 2002.
This
newly approved merger makes them the largest cable operator
in the nation with 22 million subscribers. Their sheer size
will give them unprecedented power to influence both the content
and delivery available to consumers for cable TV, as well
as the Internet and other media delivered via cable broadband
wires. The merger will have profound effects on cable subscribers,
Internet users, workers and citizens in this country and beyond.
Additional Information:
Selected Articles:
Each
form of media was hailed in its day as a potential savior
of democracy, providing the means for ordinary citizens to
exercise their guarantee of free speech, and participate in
a public dialogue that is at the heart of a democratic society.
From the creation of the printing press all the way up to
the Internet, each medium was eventually overtaken by commercial
interests, which sought to capitalize on the vast potential
of mass communication.
Now,
people live in a world that is highly commodified, where the
average person is exposed to more than 3600 commercial messages
each day. From billboard advertising to the evening news,
from movies to songs on the radio, we are, now more than ever
before, confronted by the media at all turns. What was to
be a market place of ideas, has been reduced to simply a marketplace
of commerce, replacing democratic ideals with bottomlines.
But
what if the media could be something more than a vehicle of
wealth for the few? What if the media could fulfill some of
the original promise to be a tool for the many, to promote
civic engagement, exchange ideas, build community and provide
a voice to those who do not wield power or celebrity, but
have something meaningful to say?
Media
industry giants and the government have forsaken their mandate
to serve and protect the public interest, while the public looks
the other way. But if we start paying attention, we can make a
difference. We can hold them accountable and we can work toward
a more accurate, accessible, representative media. Media Democracy
is possible.
