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One of the biggest antitrust concerns stemming from this merger is that TW's Warner Music Group, which has one of the largest catalogs of music and is attempting to merge with EMI, will favor AOL for online music distribution.

AOL, TW UPDATE CONCESSION PLAN

Beer Sales Extended Past The Seventh Inning
America Online and Time Warner agreed to extend from three to five years the duration of equal treatment they would provide to rivals seeking access to the combined company's music distribution channels and music catalog, people familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal.

In an effort to gain antitrust approval for their $129 billion merger, AOL and TW last week spelled out in more detail what they are prepared to do to escape the regulatory ax from the European Commission (hitsdailydouble.com, 9/22). The two mammoth companies also met with U.S. regulators, the FTC and the FCC, to discuss the deal.

Most of the new concessions differ very little from the original antitrust remedies AOLTW offered, say people who have seen the confidential proposals, according to the Wall Street Journal. But one point sticks out—an extra two years during which the combined entity would be obliged not to discriminate against rival Internet-service providers that would like to compete with AOL for online distribution of music.

One of the biggest antitrust concerns stemming from this merger is that TW's Warner Music Group, which has one of the largest catalogs of music and is attempting to merge with EMI, will favor AOL for online music distribution.

European music companies in particular have urged the EC to ensure unbridled access to AOL's digital distribution channels for WMG competitors.

Other concessions have been reported, including an agreement to use a multiplicity of audio players, compression codecs and encryption formats and a de-linking, for three years, of carriage on AOL in the U.S. to a commitment to AOL Europe as well.

Last week, the EC's antitrust department circulated two preliminary documents recommending that both deals be blocked unless the parties come up with better remedies. It is in that context that both AOL-Time Warner and WMG-EMI submitted revised sets of concessions to European regulators last week. The commission is expected to rule on both deals in early October. They must decide on the EMI merger by Oct. 18 and the AOL deal by Oct. 24.