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Like many observers, I was surprised when the Bush administration did the right thing from an antitrust perspective in blocking the merger of Hughes/DirecTV and Echostar (Dish Network). Given the administration's utter indifference to monopoly abuse in the Microsoft case, and its overall disdain for antitrust enforcement in general, I couldn't quite understand why it was suddenly taking a sensible position in a major case.
In retrospect, I was naive. Now that the Hughes-Echostar deal is officially dead, it's becoming clear that Hughes will still be sold, and that the buyer will be the losing bidder the first time -- Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.. What's more, now that Echostar is out of the picture, Murdoch will be able to make the purchase for much less money than he'd have had to pay before.
Murdoch's right-wing views and actions -- such as the Fox News channel's frequent service as a propaganda arm of the U.S. Republican Party -- make his upcoming purchase of DirecTV a hideous prospect. His company is already a powerhouse in media concentration and distribution. Soon it will be even stronger.
Does the White House rejection of the Echostar buyout make more sense now? It does to me.
Dan Gillmor
