Fear of negative consequences

However, some others see the merger as a clear violation of US antitrust laws which prohibit consolidations that might unfairly reduce competition. Many think that the negative impact of such a massive merger would far outweigh any positive influence.

The Writer's Guild of America, which represents most of the writers in the entertainment industry, is fighting an increasingly uphill battle with studio giants for fair wages.

"In the relentless drive to eliminate competition, big business has an insatiable appetite for consolidation," the organization harshly condemned the merger Thursday.

"Disney and Fox have spent decades profiting from the oligopolistic control that the six major media conglomerates have exercised over the entertainment industry, often at the expense of the creators who power their television and film operations," it said.

"Now, this proposed merger of direct competitors will make matters even worse by substantially increasing the market power of a combined Disney-Fox corporation," it added.

"In the entertainment industry, my fear is that there will be a real push to leverage the power of one big company to withhold content from competitive platforms or demand higher prices, or possibly draw a lot of business from companies that today are godsends for consumers," Jamie Court, president of the Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog group, said in a statement issued Thursday,

According to the law, there will be plenty of time to debate the issue, as a merger of this size will take 12 to 18 months to close.

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