Walt Disney has stepped up its attack on the proposed merger between Time Warner and America Online by calling for regulators to impose "meaningful and enforcable" restrictions on the deal.
In a sign of its increasingly combative approach over the past two weeks, the media and entertainment corporation has urged the federal communications commission to set tough conditions before giving the deal the go-ahead.
A spokesman for the California-based company said: "Disney feels that the commission should be aware of the imminent risk to competition and consumers in the event that this merger is agreed without strong and enforcable safeguards to protect unaffiliated content and other internet service providers."
A Disney executive earlier this week likened Time Warner and AOL to Microsoft for its potential to abuse a dominant monopoly position. The statement followed Disney's decision to pull its ABC channel from Time Warner's cable operations.
The argument hinges on the strength of a combined AOL Time Warner in the high-speed market for home entertainment and services expected to dominate the future growth of the internet.
"The merged company will essentially control the broadband pipeline into millions of homes," said the spokesman.
AOL and Time Warner both hit back at the complaints yesterday.
A spokesman for Time Warner, which owns several magazines and television channels as well as one of America's largest cable networks, said: "Our commitment to open access content and diversity could not be stronger."
The FCC and federal trade commission reviewing the merger, valued at an inital $350bn, and are expected to decide whether or not to let it go ahead by this autumn.
