MGM365 Phase 3 DB Final
Primary Task Response: Discuss the legal and ethical implications of the ongoing debate. The introduction of significant control measures by the FCC would serve to strengthen the over domineering aspect of some of the key industry players. This is especially with regard ethical and legal guiding fundamentals which are fundamentally established through regulatory mechanisms.
In addition, there are other emerging ethical perspectives regarding the potential impact on the existing market size, which could similarly lead to an overarching impact in terms of number of players. According to Noam (2009), “Some of the socially most benign firms were those with near monopoly market position, and consequent high profits and lower cost pressures. Examples are AT&T, Xerox, and IBM in their period of dominance; or CBS, NBC, and ABC when they accounted for most of the TV audience; or local newspapers with near monopoly” (p.13).
This therefore suggests the fact that by allowing consolidation it therefore leads to potential lessening of competition since the same firms are going to merge their sister companies leading to extreme profits. In addition, this will also serve to limit the number of entrants into the market as the market size will shrink requiring more financial input for fresh starters. Do you agree with the public relations and lobbying team, or would you support the FCC changes? I do support the public relations and lobbying team since the proposed FCC deliberations potentially serve to eliminate the occurrence of competition with regard to market size, which is a basic necessity in a business environment. The aspect of cross-ownership is essentially important in allowing various stakeholders in the industry to incorporate other new players into the market domain through establishment of an operational shares system. According to the proceedings of the FCC concerning the consolidation of media activities, one of the lobbyists objects, “Back in those early days of my career, my affiliation was with a production company that could sell to any network.
Now, because every production company is charged with doing business with its own sister network, I must choose a production company and network as one package, owned by the same conglomerate” (Herskovitz, 2006). This argument seems to bring out an element of the elimination of competition as a necessity in the communications domain. However, in common practices given the market size, some players are only in a position to operate within given geographical jurisdictions by virtue of their respective economies of scale. Summary Response:What have you learned from others’ responses? The other responses have elementally served to broaden my understanding of the current ethical perspectives and how these interact with the industry specific legal elements.What were the most compelling points from the interaction with your fellow students?The most compelling point included the fundamental role played by other industry players, view points from ongoing and previous legal battles on the subject, historical occurrences, and current state of affairs with regard to ethical and legal concerns. How did participating in this discussion help in your understanding of the Discussion Board task? The discussion fundamentally helped in deepening my understanding of the industry objectives, different view points between lobbyists and FCC regulatory supporters (the government side of things).What is still unclear after the discussion with your classmates that needs to be clarified? Some elements need to be clarified regarding the relative aspects affecting the market size in regard to a particular distinct industry component, for instance, differences in market size between television and print media.
