Why the AT&T-Time Warner Merger Is Bad for Small Channels

by Olivia White December 11, 2017January 9, 2022

AT&T’s decision to quietly pull Televisión Dominicana is a harbinger of what could happen if regulators approve this merger.

Economy

Why It’s Too Soon to Declare Victory on Broadband Access

by Susan Walters April 7, 2016January 9, 2022

The Federal Communications Commission’s lauded expansion of its “Lifeline” program for low-income broadband access could end up being less than promised.

Economy, Magazine, March/April/May 2016, The Monopolized Economy

The Real Reason Middle America Should Be Angry

by Brian S. Feldman March 14, 2016October 16, 2026

Like many “flyover” cities, St. Louis’s decline is not mainly a story of deindustrialization, but of decisions in Washington that opened the door to predatory monopoly.

Economy, Magazine, March/April/May 2016, The Monopolized Economy

Redlining from Afar: How Consolidation Killed Off St. Louis’s Exemplary Minority Lender

by Brian S. Feldman March 13, 2016October 16, 2026

Just after Thanksgiving in 1996, a group of 146 St. Louisans, mainly from the black business community, boarded a chartered TWA jetliner and flew to New York City. Their goal? To block the takeover of their hometown Boatmen’s Bank by shutting down the New York Stock Exchange. Led by the St. Louis lawyer Eric Vickers, […]

Economy, Magazine, March/April/May 2016

Communication Breakdown: How St. Louis’s Healthy Media Market Declined

by Brian S. Feldman March 13, 2016January 8, 2022

In June 1934, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Communications Act, a bill that prohibited radio, telephone, and other media companies from owning more than one broadcast license in a single community. A more diverse set of owners, stations, and channels, Roosevelt reasoned, would yield a wider set of program and service viewpoints, and would protect […]