Especially now that we're seeing the pipes merging with those companies as well.

Note that the partisan divide in American politics was exacerbated with the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine in the late 80's, leading to the rise of agenda-based cable news networks:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_Doctrine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEczkhfLwqM

Vertical integration has never been a major anti-trust issue in Congress because historically these mergers have been in manufacturing industries, where it makes a ton of sense.

But when those industries are **information** and **entertainment**?

We're fucked. We seriously are. The country is reaching inequality levels not seen since the Gilded Age and now media conglomeration is going to sugarcoat the real issues and feed us our entertainment morphine drip until some sort of reckoning happens.

This will take place over years and years of course, more than enough time for us to get inured to all the shit things that are happening (e.g, CFPB, EPA, FCC).

Fuck everything about this.