Behind the Headlines: EC was heavy handed in AOL/Time Warner decision

NEWS The deal was given the go-ahead in Europe on Wednesday, but some industry pundits claim the concessions forced upon the two companies were unnecessary, as market forces would have brought in sufficient checks and balances. Jonathon Steel, CEO of the Bathwick Group and one of the guests on this week's Behind the Headlines programme, said: "I think the EC is bound by legislation to play a role. Whether or not it made the right decision in this case is a moot point. I have a problem with the competition commission not really understanding, not really keeping up to speed with what's going on in the technology market, and in particular the convergent areas of internet content, media and telecoms." He added: "Public bodies are getting in the way, and the private sector is being obstructed. True competition comes from most public bodies getting out of the way." Perri 6, research fellow at the University of Strathclyde, agreed: "The issue shouldn't be the brute size of the organisation. The treaties say that you should not strike down large companies because they are large, but because of abuse of power, abuse of dominant position." But Martin Brampton, operations director at the Butler Group, believes the EC has done the right thing by forcing certain remedies through. He said: "Unless the whole framework is beefed up considerably, you're up against problems. You can't just say 'it doesn't matter that companies are big' when all the large companies have more lawyers than the whole US Department of Justice. The practicality is that large companies are able to fight the battles and push the law in their own direction." But Steele was adamant that the fundamental issue - namely whether the consumer will be damaged by an unfettered merger - has been overlooked. He said: "It smacks of the Microsoft/DoJ thing. How can you prove a consumer didn't profit from Microsoft? How are you going to prove a consumer's not going to do well out of AOL/Time Warner? In many cases it's probably a good thing for the consumer." For the full debate - along with a discussion about the latest DTI figures about ecommerce in the UK - click on the video icon above.