Cracking Down, Antitrust Chief Hits Resistance; New York Times, 7/25/09

Stephen Labaton via New York Timesl; Cracking Down, Antitrust Chief Hits Resistance:

"President Obama’s top antitrust official and some senior Democratic lawmakers are preparing to rein in a host of major industries, including airline and railroad giants, moving so aggressively that they are finding some resistance from officials within the administration.

The official, Christine A. Varney, the antitrust chief at the Justice Department, has begun examining complaints by the phone companies Verizon and AT&T that their rivals — major cable operators like Cablevision and Cox Communications — improperly prevent them from buying sports shows and other programs that the cable companies produce, industry lawyers said...

Ms. Varney has also challenged agreements that the Federal Trade Commission and consumer groups say discourage pharmaceutical companies from marketing more generic drugs. And she is examining a settlement between Google and book publishers and authors to make more books available online."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/business/26antitrust.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss