Disney claims that Time Warner is using its virtual monopoly in various cable markets to unfairly fix prices. But far from being simply a highly visible power struggle between two media titans, the quarrel highlights the awesome control that modern day media conglomerates hold over the information we receive. Over the last 10 years, ownership of the majority of our nation's media outlets has gradually become concentrated in the hands of around a half dozen major corporations. NBC seems the furthest flung. Its corporate parent, General Electric, manufactures everything from clock radios to jet aircraft engines to nuclear detonators.
Conflicts of interest seem inevitable.
It should, of course, be noted that these are strictly hypothetical situations. It is ironic that the dispute between Time Warner and Disney should highlight this problem, because a great deal of the danger of media oligarchy stems from collusion between different corporations. Media concerns often pool finances and resources to combat rising operating costs. For instance, both Fox and Paramount financed Titanic . Thus, one media company could have an interest in discouraging damaging reports on the operations of another.