A MAJOR MEDIA EVENT : FTC EFFECTIVELY APPROVES TIME WARNER-TURNER MERGER.Byline: Geraldine Fabrikant The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times The Federal Trade Commission effectively cleared the way Wednesday for the merger of Time Warner Inc. and Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (often abbreviated TBS Networks or TBS, inc.) is the company managing the collection of cable networks and properties started by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner from the mid-1970s to the late-1990s. Inc. but will require the new company's cable-television system to carry a second news channel as a rival to its own Cable News Network. The requirement for the second channel is intended to increase competition in cable programming. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. communications lawyers, it is the first time that the government has mandated that a cable company carry a particular type of programming on a broad national scale. Previously, cable companies have only been required to carry broadcast channels, to assure that customers continue to receive television programming that historically has been free. The requirement is one of a series of concessions the agency seeks before it will approve the $6.3 billion merger, which would create the world's largest media company. Its holdings would include the nation's largest cable programmer, with Cable News Network, Home Box Office and Turner Network Television Turner Network Television, usually referred to as TNT, is an American cable TV network created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner. to be distributed over Time Warner's extensive cable system, the second largest in the nation. The Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . studios, Warner Music and Time, People, Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated is the largest weekly American sports magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. It has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men, 19% of the adult males in the country. , Fortune and Entertainment Weekly magazines are among Time Warner's businesses. FTC FTC See Federal Trade Commission (FTC). staff members approved the agreement in principle in negotiations that ended at 11 p.m. Tuesday between William Baer, director of the agency's Bureau of Competition, and Robert Joffe, a lawyer at Time Warner's law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore. It will be presented to the commissioners Friday and is expected to receive the commission's final approval in about three weeks. Wall Street, which had feared that the FTC might make more radical demands, showed its pleasure that the deal had cleared this hurdle with relatively minor impact to Time Warner and Turner. It sent the stock of Time Warner up $3.375 a share, to close at $36.625. Shares of Turner Broadcasting System rose $2.75, to close at $26.50. The merger, which is expected to be completed by the fall, would also create an alliance between Time Warner and Tele-Communications Inc., the nation's largest cable operator. Liberty Media, a company Tele-Communications controls, would swap its 22 percent stake in Turner Broadcasting for 9 percent of Time Warner. Shares in Liberty Media rose $1.625, to $23.375. The stock of Tele-Communications rose 62.5 cents to $15. Tele-Communications and Time Warner together reach 25 million, or 40 percent, of the nation's 60 million cable homes. Concerns about the abuses possible with such size and power have worried consumer advocates. ``Requiring another news channel will offer greater diversity of programming to the public,'' said Gene Kimmelman, co-director of the Consumers Union. ``This is one of a number of consumer benefits from this settlement.'' CAPTION(S): Photo, 2 Boxes Photo: (color) Ted Turner For other persons named Ted Turner, see Ted Turner (disambiguation). Robert Edward Turner III (born November 19 1938 , left, head of Turner Br oadcasting System, and Gerald Levin, head of Time Warner, smile Wednesday after the Federal Trade Commission paved the way for a merger. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Box: (1) TIME WARNER (2) TURNER BROADCASTING |
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