MORE BARS, FEWER DROPPED CALLS!

For the media hegemonies question in our blog list, I have chosen to research the Major Media Company AT&T. AT&T Inc. leads the US in both local and long distance telephone services, DSL Internet access and wireless service with 71.4 million wireless customers and more than 150 million total customers. AT&T was founded in 1893 under the name Southwestern Bell Corporation. It was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies known as “Baby Bells”. It was incorporated by AT&T Corporation as a result of U.S antitrust action against their company in 1983. It took over Southwestern Bell on January 1, 1984. At its annual stockholders meeting in 1995, it announced that its name would be change to SBC Communications Inc. SBC went on to acquire Baby Bell Pacific Telesis, and then in 1997 former independent Bell System franchise SNET (Southern New England Telephone). In 1998 SBC and Ameritech announced to merger. In 1999, SBC became a part of the Dow Jones Industrial. In 2002, SBC ended marketing its operating companies under different names, and named its companies based on the state. Cross-media ownership is the restriction of a Media company to only be able to own two mediums such as a radio station and a local newspaper, or an over-the-air TV station and one radio station etc, ultimately, it prevents companies from holding a monopoly. In AT&T’s case, it is distributing telephone services as well as internet services. When SBC acquired Ameritech, it only got the right to do so from the Federal Communications Commission on the basis that it would allow competitors access to local markets where it had a monopoly. The FCC later fined SBC $6 million for failure to meet this agreement because they held a monopoly. This shows the implications of cross-media ownership.