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U.S. Department of Justice Seal and Letterhead
  May 11, 1992


SUMMARY OF ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
FOR MONDAY, MAY 4, 1992 THROUGH FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1992


5/4/92

U.S. v. Southern Pride Catfish Co.. Inc.
Criminal No.: 92-247-1 (E.D. Pa.)

One-count information was filed in US District Court in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, charging Southern Pride Catfish Co., Inc. of Greensboro, Alabama, with fixing the prices, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, of certain catfish products beginning at least as early as 1987 and continuing until at least as late as March 1990.

5/5/92 Department of Justice Issues Business Review Letters

In a letter from James F. Rill, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, to counsel for Affiliated Distributors (AD), the Department advised AD that it does not intend to challenge AD's proposal to implement a "national accounts" program on behalf of Ad's independent distributor members. AD, a Pennsylvania corporation, serves approximately 170 independent distributors of electrical equipment, which operate a total of about 510 branches throughout the country, most being localized and serving only one or two states. Some large purchasers of electrical equipment operate nationally and prefer to obtain their requirements from one source. Ad's program will enable its members to compete for those national accounts that they could not otherwise serve.

The Department also advised counsel for Automotive Service Association of Michigan, Inc. (ASA), that it does not intend to challenge, under the antitrust laws, ASA's proposal to establish a "supplier discount coupon program." ASA, a non-profit corporation whose members are independent automotive service and repair shops located throughout Michigan, would compile a coupon book providing for price discounts on specific automobile parts sold by various suppliers. ASA intends to implement the program in the collision repair market and anticipates that the supplier discount coupon program will make small independent collision repair shops more competitive with larger competitors that receive volume discounts directly from manufacturers.
5/8/92 Justice Consents to Proposed Modifications to Three Major
Networks Consent Decrees

The Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, filed a stipulation and memorandum in US District Court for the Central District of California, which if approved by the Court, would modify the consent judgments in US v. American Broadcasting Companies. Inc., filed in 1978: US v. CBS. Inc. and US v. National Broadcasting Company, Inc., both filed in 1980, by removing the current restrictions on their ability to acquire financial interests and syndication rights in the programs they obtain from independent producers. In its papers, the Department indicted that the restrictions were no longer necessary because no network exercises market power in any relevant antitrust market and they may actually be anticompetitive in effect since they may be prohibiting conduct which is procompetitive or competitively neutral. The Department reserved the right to withdraw its consent for at least ten days after the close of the 60-day public comment period established by the Court.


Copies of legal filings are available from the Legal Procedure Unit, Antitrust Division, Room 3233, Telephone No.: 514-2481.

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