July 24, 2003
Telecommunications partner Philip Verveer appeared on CNNfn’s Market Call to comment on Univision’s controversial proposed takeover of Hispanic Broadcasting. Interviewed by anchor Rhonda Schaffler, Mr. Verveer was featured as the “Maverick of the Morning.”
On July 23, Willkie Telecommunications partner Philip L. Verveer appeared on CNNfn’s Market Call to comment on Univision’s controversial proposed takeover of Hispanic Broadcasting. Interviewed by anchor Rhonda Schaffler, Mr. Verveer was featured as the “Maverick of the Morning.” Univision is the nation’s largest Spanish language media company and Hispanic Broadcasting is the biggest Spanish language radio network. If approved by the FCC, a merger would create a media giant that could dominate the Spanish language market. Mr. Verveer, who is representing Spanish Broadcasting in its fight against the merger, discussed the arguments for prohibiting the proposed takeover. He explained that aside from standard competition concerns, the proposed deal raises serious diversity issues. He told viewers that because nearly half of the 40 million Hispanic Americans are not proficient in English, “to permit further diminution of diversity in the environment of Spanish language broadcasting would be a great tragedy for that segment of the population which depends heavily, according to all studies, on Spanish language media.” He said that the proposed merger is the first to follow a highly controversial FCC decision on general broadcast media ownership. Particularly, he explained this case would test the FCC’s commitment to protecting the number of viewpoints that are available to viewers and listeners. Philip L. Verveer, a partner in Willkie’s Washington, D.C. office, specializes in communications, antitrust, and administrative law. He regularly provides counseling and administrative agency representation to a variety of communications clients.