Mighty makes right

It only just dawned on me today that the Stanley Cup Finals this year feature the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, owned by Disney, and is being shows exclusively on ABC and ESPN, also owned by Disney. I haven't watched more than ten minutes of hockey all year, so it's tough for me to try to watch and see if there's any hint of bias. Given ESPN's position as the "worldwide leader in sports," I would actually expect them to point out the ownership conflict whenever possible, in an effort to steer away any charges of favoritism.

Of course, in those ten minutes I watched tonight, there was a Walt Disney World commercial. Which brings us once again to the FCC today. There are just so many fingers in so many pies, that it's hard to keep track of how "synergy" might turn out to be market manipulation, and whether or not market manipulation is always bad. Will you ever see a Universal Studios commercial on a Disney-owned network? It's like the Wal-Mart argument. Customers like the low prices, and because of that, turn a blind eye to the eradication of choice. Although in that case, and most others, there's a trade-off, like free downloads for privacy, but in the case of media consolidation, I'm not convinced that there is any benefit whatsoever to the end user.

This is the endemic problem with the trend toward deregulation in the current administration. But again, does the relaxation of rules have to benefit consumers, or is there some sort of nobility in allowing people to make more money, in a sort of "following the American dream" way? I've seen that argument made with regard to the current round of tax cuts, and I don't buy it over there, either.