Occupation: various
Last Seen: everywhere
Bee-otched For: merging like crazy and screwing us over
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In the world of business, it seems that the bad 'ol days are here again.
In 1911, the Supreme Court ruled that John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil was an illegal monopoly. So, the oil giant was split into seven smaller companies. Today, those "seven sisters" are now back to being four bigger companies: Marathon, BP, ExxonMobil and Chevron.
In 1982, after decades of being the sole phone company in America, AT&T was forced to divest its "baby bells". Today, those bells are what's now Verizon, Lumen Technologies and once again AT&T.
Over the years, the corporation-friendly two-party system has been lax in protecting Americans from monopolies. Today, there's near monopolies in so many aspects of business. And yes, AT&T is one of them. In the world of cell phones, at least they have to go up against Verizon, TMobile and a few minors. Coincidentally, AT&T caused a stir this week when it was announced that all 17 movies released through their Warner Bros. studio in 2021 will be released simultaneously on HBOMax, their streaming service. While it's good news for many consumers, many movie theaters - especially smaller ones - will be feeling the pinch of now having to compete with staying at home. Many critics are pissed over Warners' decision. Christopher Nolan, who directed several Batman movies, "Dunkirk" and the recent "Tenent" - all for Warners - called HBOMax "the worst streaming service ever" and called the studio's decision an insult.
The funny thing is that back in the 1940s, smaller theater circuits fought a massive antitrust suit against the studios because they also owned the biggest cinemas in America. Back then, the studio-owned cinemas were in major cities and often showed their major movies there first. So, if you lived in a small, out-of-the-way town, chances were that if you wanted to see "The Wizard of Oz", you would have to wait well into 1940 at least, depending on how prints were distributed back then. Thanks to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 1948, everything changed. The studios sold off their theaters and could not decide on which theaters could show their movies. One studio, Paramount was forced to divest of its theater chain, which itself merged with the American Broadcasting Company. Paramount, along with Warners even sold off their catalogs to other companies to help make up for the losses they got in the suit. It also allowed for more movies to be produced independently. Thanks to another important Supreme Court case in 1952, all movies were protected under the First Amendment. Therefore, the Production Code introduced in 1934 was practically moot, and producers were allowed to make movies with more profanity and sex that was gradually added before the 1968 introduction of the MPAA Ratings System.
Now, the big brouhaha is over Facebook. New York Attorney General Letitia James announced yesterday that she's suing the social media giant for everything from crushing and buying out rivals to compromising their users' security. In her words, she feels that the company illegally acquired competitors like Instagram and WhatsApp to increase their market share. In a statement, James even claimed that another social media executive claimed that if you step on Facebook's turf, "you will face the wrath of Mark."
Of course, she's referring to Facebook founder and majority stockholder Mark Zuckerberg, who is worth over $100 billion and is the seventh-wealthiest person on Earth. Facebook itself has over $133 billion in assets.
For more than a decade, Facebook has been the dominant social media platform. As a company, they've worked feverishly to make sure that they don't end up like MySpace. Some say its downfall began with News Corporation (i.e. Fox) bought them out in 2005 for just under $600 million. Eventually, Uncle Rupert ended up selling it to (barf) Justin Timberlake, who in turn sold it to Time, Inc. and is now a subsidiary of Meredith Corporation.
Funny that we mention Fox because they sold off 20th Century Fox to Disney for over $70 billion last year. Same with AT&T, who bought out Warners for $108.7 billion in 2018. Before the AT&T/Warner deal, some of their companies were spun off, such as Warner Bros. Records, Time Warner Cable (now Charter Spectrum), their publishing division (now Hatchette) and most of their magazines (the "Time" in Time Warner, now a part of the aforementioned Meredith). Today, the only magazine AT&T/Warner now owns is Mad, a magazine that has seen better days, sadly. Since AT&T purchased the humor magazine in 2018 as part of the Time Warner acquisition, almost all of their staff have been let go. As a matter of fact, their latest issue marks the final appearance of 57-year mainstay Sergio Aragones. Their next issue will mark the last new Spy Vs. Spy and Peter Kuper, who has drawn the beloved bird-like spies since 1997. Spy Vs. Spy were created by Cuban refugee Antonio Prohias in 1961, who drew the monthly strips for Mad until 1987.
The pathetic reality is that when companies merge, they get bigger, and the billionaires in charge get nicer paychecks. Even more, it means that your bills increase by a ton. Some of the companies I've mentioned are in the internet business. One thing the media is not covering (obviously) is the fact that some kids who are having to learn from home end up capping their internet usage. As a result, they end up having to do their homework in free wi-fi zones. Another problem is that there's still a myriad of areas in America where there's no high-speed internet. Hell, I have a family friend near Traverse City who almost lives next door to a casino. And guess what? THE LOCAL CABLE COMPANY WON'T GIVE HER EITHER CABLE NOR THE INTERNET BECAUSE HER AREA IS "TOO RURAL"! One problem with Drumpf was that his FCC chair Ajit Pai was a friend to big corporations who craved a lack of competition and ways to fuck over consumers.
The FCC has proven to be an abortion of an organization, at least since the 1970s. It's sad, really, since it was the brainchild of FDR. Back in the olden days, individuals were only allowed to own six AM stations, six FM stations and 12 radio stations total. They were allowed to own a certain amount of TV stations and if they owned a newspaper in the same city, they couldn't own both unless they have a waiver. Back then, their newscasts had to be fair and balanced. If they presented a viewpoint, they had to give free airtime to somebody who had a different opinion. Jackson, MS NBC affiliate WLBT-TV didn't give a voice to their black viewers during segregationist times and the FCC took away their license in 1971.
Of course, the FCC jumped the shark more times than The Fonz. When radio station WBAI in New York City played George Carlin's "Filthy Words" bit, it led to the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in 1978 that the FCC had the power to fine so-called indecent broadcasts. Bear in mind that the five justices of the high court who approved the ruling were also Republican appointees.
In 1987, the FCC abolished the Fairness Doctrine, which got WLBT in trouble in the first place. Because of this, it allowed radio stations to air one type of talk show only: conservative. Thanks to Reagan's FCC, we ended up with Rush, Hannity, Alex Jones and too many screwballs who simply don't have a normal IQ. Things only got worse in the 1990s when President Clinton signed in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which now allowed companies to own two AMs, seven FMs and up to two TV stations in a single market with no maximum as to how many stations they own. Because of that, we have ENTIRE radio markets with three radio station owners or less, like here in Grand Rapids.
In the 00s, we had the Janet Jackson nipslip, which caused the FCC to raise fines for indecency. Thanks to them, broadcast television has gotten more boring. Sad, since when I was a teen, NYPD Blue had naked butts galore. Today, they've been relegated to basic cable.
Today, it's a dog-eat-dog world in regards to the media industry. Right now in Grand Rapids, we have two TV stations begging their viewers to call Hulu and Dish Network all because they dropped their channels. Simply put, it's all about raising rates and screwing over you and me. Over time, what has passed long ago has created less of a local voice for you and me. Thankfully, we have the internet and satellite radio as our holy savior. And thankfully, We The People are smart enough to proclaim ixnay on what we don't want in life.
Let's remember this: we're the ones who keep corporations alive. We're a nation where many who live in small towns would rather shop at a billionaire-owned Walmart over the small, family-owned IGA down the street. We're a nation where if a good DJ gets canned, we'll still listen anyway (KLQ was a notable exception here in GR). We're a nation that would rather see a big budget blockbuster made by a major studio that gets 17% on Rotten Tomatoes over a small indie movie that gets rave reviews and is distributed by a tiny outfit. Yes, we're the ones that keep big corporations rolling along while people suffer financially during the COVID crisis.
But, hey! Grand Rapids is FINALLY getting a Whole Foods Market! Too bad Amazon owns them now.
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