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Capital, Technology and the US in an 'Open Market' 187

For the most part, while European HDTV policies, for instance, have
been directly linked to the economic interests of 'national champions,'
private sector developments in the United States will continue to
define the contextual parameters in which European, Japanese and
other national and regional interests are pursued. If consent constitutes
an essential component of hegemonic order, the ascendancy of global
information-based commodity activities, accommodated through free
trade, raises at least the potential for a revived but different form of
Pax Americana.

NOTES
1 Jill Hills, The Democracy Gap (Greenwood Press, 1991) pp. 57--tiO.
2 Bortnick, 'International Telecommunications and Information Policy,'
US Senate, Committee on Foreign Affairs, 1983, p. 13.
3 Ibid., p. 24.
4 US Department of Commerce, 'NTIA Telecom 2000,' p. 122.
5 Hills, The Democracy Gap, pp. 95--ti.
6 For example, the standards for an RBOC to offer in-region, long-
distance services include a number of pro-competitive requirements.
The Act requires local telephone companies to sell telephone services to
long-distance companies at wholesale prices (defined as the retail rate
minus marketing, billing, collection and other costs). AT&T, for instance,
now can buy local services from NYNEX, repackage them and then resell
them to customers. Because this kind of 'competition' is based on differ-
ent companies offering services based on virtually identical infrastruc-
tures, price and service quality improvements are unlikely to change
significantly as a result of the Act.
7 Despite these restrictions, such long-distance opportunities represent a
significant revenue base for the RBOCs. If Bell Atlantic, for
instance, captured just 10% of the long-distance traffic originating in
its region, it would generate approximately $10 billion in annual reven-
ues. Pablo Galarza, 'Happy Independence Day,' Financial World, 165 (7),
41
8 TCI, the world's largest cable company, owed more than $10 billion as of
September 1995. In 1994, TCI revenues totaled $4.9 billion. Cable, com-
pany debts generally are the results of the high costs of expansion
activities in the 1980s (including mergers and acquisitions) and the rising
costs of programing. Given the competitive necessity to install fiber-optic
cables and related equipment, such debt burdens are likely to continue.
Martin Peers, 'Regulatory Oimate Improving for Cable Giant,' Atlanta
Constitution (31 August 1995) p. F4.
9 Catherine Arnst, 'The Coming Telescramble,' Business Week, 3470 (8
April 1996) 65.