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from:Broadcasting and Cable

AT&T/BellSouth Opponent Weigh In

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/4/2006 5:12:00 PM

Consumer groups and anti-media activists are registering their collective opposition to the AT&T BellSouth merger June 5.

That is the FCC deadline for filing comments on the planned reunion of AT&T and one of its spin-off companies.

The groups include American Antitrust Institute, COMPTEL, Consumer Federation of America; Free Press, Media Access Project, National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates.

Comptel will have a former ally on the FCC in new commissioner Robert McDowell, but it is unclear what decisions he will have to recuse himself from.

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The groups also promise on June 6 to announce "new activities and strategies" to block the deal.

The proposed $67 billion merger between, announced in March, could speed AT&T's entry into the TV space.

Verizon has so far been the most aggressive player among the telephone companies.

It has been over two decades since the government broke up AT&T and spun-off local phone service into the Baby Bells, but the competitive landscape has changed dramatically, with cable into phone and telco into video, and the Baby Bells into long-distance.