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Time Warner is hardly the only Biggie to cozy up to a regulatory agency.The consolidation of the press has been going strong for nearly three decades.
Radio contracted like an imploding sun after the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
The act allowed companies to own an obscene number of stations in the same market, while the Federal Communications Commission did little.
This push to collect and condense has now infringed on the Internet.
Cable and telecommunications companies such as Comcast and Verizon are fighting the network-neutrality effort.
There are currently no permanent rules stopping these companies that supply the pipes through which the Internet flows from tinkering with different pay scales.
Without a neutrality law and strict oversight by the FCC, companies and Web sites would have to pay additional fees to the network provider so Web pages could load at the speed they should.
The American consumer — who already pays more than consumers in other countries for broadband service — would pay an even larger bill.
Progress has been made on the net-neutrality front.
Late last year, AT&T accepted a net-neutrality rule so its merger with BellSouth would be approved by the FCC.
Problem is, AT&T is only held to the rule for two years.
Net neutrality has not seemed to hurt AT&T.
The company posted a first-quarter profit of $2.8 billion, up from $1.4 billion.
Radio on the ...
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