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Does this concentration matter? Will it affect what is made, or<br />

what is distributed? Or is it merely a more efficient way to produce and<br />

distribute content?<br />

My view was that concentration wouldn’t matter. I thought it was<br />

nothing more than a more efficient financial structure. But now, after<br />

reading and listening to a barrage of creators try to convince me to the<br />

contrary, I am beginning to change my mind.<br />

Here’s a representative story that begins to suggest how this integration<br />

may matter.<br />

In 1969, Norman Lear created a pilot for All in the Family. He took<br />

the pilot to ABC. The network didn’t like it. It was too edgy, they told<br />

Lear. Make it again. Lear made a second pilot, more edgy than the<br />

first. ABC was exasperated. You’re missing the point, they told Lear.<br />

We wanted less edgy, not more.<br />

Rather than comply, Lear simply took the show elsewhere. CBS<br />

was happy to have the series; ABC could not stop Lear from walking.<br />

The copyrights that Lear held assured an independence from network<br />

control. 29<br />

164 <strong>FREE</strong> <strong>CULTURE</strong><br />

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