NBC's problems shows why MergerMania should be a bigger issue

[Armstead]

So GE/NBC/Universal is trimming its' sails.

And the news division is going to be even more eviscerated than it was before. NBC News will also likely become worse than before, with more cheap slice and dice tabloid fare replacing what little bit was left of the proud tradition of NBC News.

This is just one more example that shows why we as a nation and the Democratic Party and even Republicans have shot ourselves in the foot by ignoring what should have been a core issue for the last 20 years -- Mergermania.

Not very long ago, GE/NBC swallowed up a whole bunch of cable channels including USA, Bravo and the Sci-Fi Channel, and Trio and a bunch of otehr media enterprises by buying up Universal and other properties.

So now NBC controls a much bigger chuck of the available mass media and entertainment outlets than they did three years ago....And we see the effects. Bravo has gone from a really good cultural channel to upscale tabloid reality shows. And how many times do reruns of Law and Order air every day on how many channels?

So now what do they do? They cry poverty, and strip down the quality of its assets even more to achieve more "efficiencies."

Perhaps if GE had focused on investing in NBC and making it a better network, instead of using its resources to swallow up even more of the media universe, they would have benefitted and the public would have benefitted.

But we continue to allow Big Corporate Oligarchies to take over ever larger shares of the economy, and then gut their acquisitions and lower the qwuality of life. IN EVERY INDUSTRY.

And yet, this issue continues to be unspoken and ignored by our political representatives.

It ought to piss off everyone -- including those conservatives who still believe in the idea of a competative truly free-enterprise economy.

[Armstead]

1. Kick

I see this is an issue that rouses passions