33 Groups Urge FTC to ‘Halt’ Amazon’s MGM Buy

Amazon’s proposed $8.45 billion MGM buy (see 2105260061) “is not simply a one-off deal for streaming content,” but the latest move in Amazon’s “overarching strategy to create numerous interconnected points of dominance over businesses and consumers,” nearly three dozen organizations wrote FTC Chair Lina Khan and the other commissioners Tuesday, urging them to block the transaction. If the deal goes through, consumers “will be more forcefully pushed into subscribing” to Amazon Prime Video because more content will be exclusive to the service, “rather than being available across many platforms,” said the groups. Amazon also could “destroy rivals to its Fire TV products by denying other streaming platforms access to its content,” they said. Amazon’s control over the intellectual property for MGM content would allow it to “further exert leverage over its e-commerce platform” by forcing competitors “to prioritize Amazon content and product placement within non-Amazon products in exchange for access to content or IP rights,” they said. “We urge the FTC to halt this deal and to continue to investigate Amazon’s broad abuse of its ecosystem.” An Amazon spokesperson declined comment on the letter. He cited past Amazon statements that competition for content is “already intense,” and that the MGM buy “will help to strengthen this competition and provide even more choice to consumers.”