Announced Action for April 18, 2001

The Federal Trade Commission today announced the following action:

Consent agreement given final approval:

Following a public comment period, the Commission has made final a modified consent agreement regarding the following: America Online, Inc./Time Warner, Inc. This matter concerns the merger of AOL and Time Warner, which was conditionally approved by the Commission on December 18, 2000. The final order reflects the following changes: 1) in compliance with the FTC's Operating Manual, a statement has been added to the third paragraph indicating that the Commission has duly considered the comments filed by interested persons pursuant to Section 2.34 of its Rules; 2) several definitions have been altered, including Definition MM. (Regional Bell Operating Companies, "RBOC") and Definition NN. ("RBOC Territory"); and 3) the introductory language to Paragraph IV. has been changed from "IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within each RBOC Territory...." to "IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT within each separate geographic areas served by an ILEC...." The last of the these changes was made because while the original order required AOL to sell and market its services on nondiscriminatory terms to digital subscriber line ("DSL") providers in areas served by RBOCs (and not in areas served by ILECs), RBOCs serve only about 85 percent of the residential lines operated by ILECs.

The Commission vote to modify the agreement and approve it as final was 5-0, with Commissioner Mozelle W. Thompson issuing a separate concurring statement. (FTC File No. 001-0105; staff contacts are Jill M. Frumin and Phillip L. Broyles, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2758 or 202-326-2805; see press releases dated December 18, 2000 and February 26, 2001.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC's Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid them. To file a complaint, or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

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