Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On October 3, the Federal Trade Commission announced its decision to intervene in the formation of United Launch Alliance, L.L.C. (ULA), a proposed joint venture between The Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin Corporation. The FTC’s complaint alleges that by combining the only two suppliers of U.S. government medium to heavy (MTH) launch services the joint…

On October 2, the FCC consented to the applications filed in connection with the proposed acquisition of Midwest Wireless Holdings, LLC (“Midwest Wireless”) by ALLTEL Communications, Inc. (“ALLTEL”), subject to certain conditions. ALLTEL provides wireless communications services to approximately 11 million wireless customers in 35 states. Midwest Wireless is a wireless provider with more than…

On September 28, the DOJ announced that it filed a notice with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss its antitrust complaint challenging the potential acquisition of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) by Exelon Corp. Exelon formally abandoned its effort to acquire PSEG, and therefore the lawsuit and proposed consent…

On September 27, five major cable companies asked the FCC for conditions on AT&T’s merger with BellSouth to ensure that the combined phone giants cannot discriminate against cable’s competing digital-phone service. The cable companies seeking these conditions were Advance/Newhouse Communications, Charter Communications, Cablevision Systems, Cox Communications and Insight Communications. Each introduced voice over Internet protocol…

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) sent letters on September 27, 2006 to 166 advertisers and 77 media outlets warning them that their advertisements targeting Hispanics are potentially deceptive. The ads were spotted during a one-day surf of Spanish-language newspaper, magazine, Internet, radio, and television advertisements by 60 partners around the United States and Latin America,…

On September 25, the FCC adopted its Eleventh Annual Report to Congress on the state of competition in the mobile telephone – or Commercial Mobile Radio Services (“CMRS”) – industry. This report examines the conditions prevailing in the CMRS marketplace in 2005. The FCC concluded that there is effective competition in the CMRS marketplace based…

On September 20, 2006, the federal district court in Chicago ruled for the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in its case against the marketers of the Q-Ray ionized bracelet following a bench trial earlier this summer. In a decision issued September 8, the court found that advertising by Que Te (Andrew) Park and his companies was…

On September 19, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously reported on the nomination of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin for a second five-year term. Martin was approved following an off-the-floor markup held after the first vote on the Senate floor. According to Commerce Committee spokesman Joe Brenckle, the only senator to miss the 21-0 vote was Sen.…

The FCC’s first auction of Advanced Wireless Service (“AWS”) spectrum licenses ended on September 18. A total of 1,122 licenses were offered in the auction, and 104 bidders won 1,087 licenses. The AWS licenses can be used to provide any of a wide array of innovative wireless services and technologies, including voice, data, video, and…

On September 18, the DOJ announced that it filed a notice with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss its antitrust complaint regarding the potential acquisition of Falconbridge Limited by Inco Limited because Inco has formally abandoned its effort to acquire Falconbridge. The DOJ said that the lawsuit and proposed consent…