Still wondering why Google spent $12.5 billion and risked antitrust scrutiny in buying Motorola — at best, a come-back kid in the hypercompetitive world of smartphones and tablets? Wonder no more: Google is already using patents it obtained in the deal to defend an ally, handset maker HTC …
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By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Antitrust, Apple, Google, HTC, Motorola, patents | Category: Intellectual Property, Quick Takes |
 One commentAll right, we’ll say it: We love Netflix, the company that has made it so easy to watch any of thousands of movies anywhere, with hardly a moment’s forethought. And we’re not alone. The company boasts close to 26 million subscribers in the United States and Canada, and it recently … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Antitrust, AT&T, Comcast, Federal Communications Commission, Net Neutrality, Netflix | Category: Internet regulation |
Leave a commentCalifornia’s Public Utilities Commission has decided to investigate the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger, making no bones about the PUC’s concern that the merged companies’ combined market share in the state (47 percent) would be anti-competitive. Maybe, but there’s an irony here. AT&T’s goal is to use T-Mobile’s surplus spectrum … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Antitrust, AT&T, California Public Utilities Commission, merger, Spectrum, T-Mobile | Category: Quick Takes, Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentWe’ve long thought that the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between the major tobacco companies and the attorneys general of 46 states was a bad deal for the rest of us because it gave Big Tobacco the market power to pass on the $200-billion-plus cost to current … Remember when Microsoft appeared to be on track to dominate our waking hours at work (Windows, Office) and at play (Xbox, Internet Explorer, MSN)? Seems like a quaint memory now — though, in the long-standing tradition of refighting the last war, as recently as December the European competition authority was … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: AdMob, Antitrust, DoubleClick, Facebook, FTC, Google, Microsoft | Category: Competition Policy |
Leave a commentJust before the tech bubble crashed in 2000 Microsoft had a market capitalization of $586 billion while one-time rival Apple’s cap languished at $17 billion. Now the two tech icons are running neck and neck — a reversal of fortune the bloggerati are inclined to ascribe to a … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Antitrust, Apple, Federal Trade Commission, Google, Microsoft | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentAs mandated by Congress the FCC came out with its 14th annual report [Download Here] on the state of competition in the market for wireless services. And as usual, it is a trove of solid data, a must-have reference for telecom and antitrust … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Antitrust, FCC, Federal Trade Commission, smartphones, wireless competition report | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentAnalyses of the D.C. Federal Court of Appeals’ decision in Comcast v. FCC [Download Here] have focused on who won and who lost. And for good reason: the judgment imposes significant limits on the FCC’s ill-defined authority to have its way with the … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Antitrust, Comcast, FCC, Internet, Net Neutrality, peer-to-peer | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
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Professor Dieter Helm (Oxford) is a very fine fly fisherman, and an even better economist. If you haven’t done so, take a look at his new book “The Carbon Crunch: How We Are Getting Climate Change Wrong — and How to Fix It” for a bit of unconventional wisdom. He argues that politicians and the general public have not shown any real interest in addressing climate change. Helm argues that places like Europe should focus on setting a price for carbon that would cover consumption (and not just production), and that fracking could be a good “bridge” technology for reducing consumption of coal. The book is readable and insightful for those interested in the inside track on climate policy. 
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