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| Fair Fight in the Marketplace: Press Release |
Airs Sunday, April 1, 2007 at 5pm on KQED 9 (check your local listings)
When companies secretly fix prices, who pays?
When one company controls supplies, who suffers?
When one company dominates the desktop, who loses?
These questions are at the core of a new half hour film, Fair Fight in the Marketplace. Produced by San Francisco's Filmmakers Collaborative for the American Antitrust Institute, the film provides an engaging look at our antitrust laws that give protection to both American consumers and businesses. The program also considers a more fundamental question: can a set of regulations created by the Sherman Act at the end of the 19th century be relevant in today's era of digital technology and high-speed communications?
Hosted by NPR and Fox News commentator Mara Liasson, the program provides a short, colorful history of the antitrust laws in America and features three recent case studies:
- Archer Daniels Midland Company leading a worldwide price-fixing conspiracy
- Mylan Pharmaceuticals cutting off supplies to competitors to inflate product pricing
- Microsoft's bullying behavior to eliminate Netscape as an effective competitor in the internet browser market
Distinguished authorities in law and economics offer context and commentary, while noted business journalists provide special insights and bring a seemingly impenetrable subject into meaningful focus. Victims from the corporate schemes relate the impact on their lives and give viewers a sense of how antitrust laws affect everyday matters like product pricing, selection, and quality.
The Fair Fight educational program was funded by settlement money resulting from successful prosecution of an antitrust lawsuit in the California courts. The American Antitrust Institute is an independent non-profit education, research, and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., whose mission is to increase the role of competition, assure that competition works in the interests of consumers, and challenge abuses of concentrated economic power.
Fair Fight in the Marketplace is produced by Filmmakers Collaborative of San Francisco for the American Antitrust Institute, presented by KQED and distributed by NETA.
About KQED
KQED (www.kqed.org) is a service of Northern California Public Broadcasting, Inc. (NCPB). KQED Public Television 9, one of the nation's most-watched public television stations during primetime, is the producer of local and national series such as Quest; Check, Please! Bay Area; Jacques Pepin: Fast Food My Way; and Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures. KQED's digital television channels include KQED HD, KQED Encore, KQED World, KQED Life and KQED Kids, and are available 24/7 on Comcast. KQED Public Radio, home of Forum with Michael Krasny, Pacific Time, and The California Report, is the most-listened-to public radio station in the nation with an award-winning news and public affairs program service (88.5 FM in San Francisco and 89.3 FM in Sacramento). KQED Education Network brings the impact of KQED to thousands of teachers, students, parents and the general public through workshops, community screenings and multimedia resources. KQED Interactive offers video and audio podcasts and live radio stream at www.kqed.org, featuring unique content on one of the most-visited station sites in public broadcasting.
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