December 2, 2005

AG Antitrust

posted by Will Wilson @ 4:07 pm

As first noted in the Seattle Weekly, the FTC and DOJ gave the green light to the proposed merger between Village Voice and New Times. As far as antitrust obstacles, this should be the end of a non-event.

However, the rival SF Bay Guardian planted the seeds of disorder, begging California AG Bill Lockyer and others (including that distasteful fellow in NY) to intervene with a little state-cooked antitrust litigation. As AG Watch has noted before, state-by-state antitrust oversight would lead to a bizarre and sclerotic merger world.

The budding 50 state merger process is not only overwraught and inappropriate, but stifles healthy competition as well.