Podcasts

Netflix's decline and why stricter regulation could strengthen the tech giants
Future Tense with Antony Funnell (ABC, 11 August 2019)
Run time: approx 30 mins

'Netflix dominates online TV streaming, but for how long? The market appears to be decentralising, as major content-makers decide to abandon Netflix and go it alone. Also, Cory Doctorow on how more government regulation could inadvertently make the tech giants even stronger. What is needed, he says, is an emphasis on encouraging competition. And meet the Scottish developer trying to build a genuine alternative to today’s surveillance-ridden internet.'

Australia Finalises Landmark Facebook, Google Report
James Panichi and Laurel Henning (mlex, 31 July 2019)
Run time: 22min 57 sec

'The Australian government has published the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s landmark report into the influence of Facebook and Google on the country’s media and advertising industries. If the government adopts the ACCC’s 23 recommendations, the digital platforms could face some of the toughest M&A requirements in the world, and have to work on industry codes of conduct with regulators that would include giving consumers more control over their data.'

M&A law at heart of Australian competition regulator’s courtroom woes
James Panichi and Laurel Henning (mlex, 4 June 2019)
Run time: 16min 43 sec

'Australian merger law is under renewed scrutiny as the country’s competition regulator fights to make its voice heard by Federal Court judges. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and Federal Court of Australia are at odds when it comes to trusting undertakings offered up by companies seeking approval for merger deals and the ACCC’s mistrust is leading it to consider recommending carving out new M&A measures for digital platforms this month.'

TPG-Vodafone merger suffers $700 million setback
James Panichi and Laurel Henning (mlex, 9 May 2019)

'A merger that would have seen Australia’s broadband and mobile network markets changed forever suffered a costly A$1 billion ($700 million) loss this week after a premature announcement from Australia’s competition regulator blocked the deal. Now the companies are preparing to take their fight to a Federal Court..'

Country Care cartel case resonates in Australia; New Zealand's draft privacy laws move forward
James Panichi and Laurel Henning (mlex, 14 March 2019)

'A landmark criminal-cartel prosecution in Australia, involving a rural medical-aid company called Country Care, is attracting attention among competition professionals for how prosecutors’ tactics may inform other criminal-cartel prosecutions, including one involving Deutsche Bank and Citigroup. Meanwhile, the New Zealand parliament published a new draft of a privacy overhaul, which would align the policy with Australian, but will it be enough to make the new laws successful at an international level? James Panichi and Laurel Henning discuss.'

Includes discussion of immunity (or 'letters of comfort') in the cartel case.

The Vergecast discusses breaking up Facebook, Google, and Amazon at SXSW
Zachary Mack, 12 March 2019 (run time 55 mins) (includes transcript)

'How would we break up the world’s most powerful companies? Live from SXSW, The Verge’s Nilay Patel, Dieter Bohn, Casey Newton, and Ashley Carman discuss just how one might split up tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.'

What's the 'right' regulation for Facebook?
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), 'investigates the meaning of the now often used, if not abused, term “fake news”. It explores whether this is a phenomenon that relates to competition and, if so, whether it is a reflection of too little competition, or indeed, too much.'

Competition Lore episode 22; released 6 March 2019. Run time is 24 mins

What's the 'right' regulation for Facebook?
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), speaks with Facebook's Associate General Counsel, Sam Knox

Competition Lore episode 21; released 19 Febraury 2019. Run time is 55 mins

Platforms, ads and the media?
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), speaks with Dr Katharine Kemp

Competition Lore episode 20; released 12 February 2019. Run time is 55 mins

Australian gun-jumping lawsuits highlight risks of dramatic, pre-deal business decisions
James Panichi and Laurel Henning (mlex, 18 February 2019)

'A landmark gun-jumping case in Australia has focused attention on the risk faced by companies entering into agreements ahead of a merger or acquisition. The lawsuit has also reignited concerns about how light penalties could hinder the deterrence of antitrust laws. Meanwhile, in New Zealand the planned revamp of privacy laws has prompted soul-searching about the “right to be forgotten,” with European court cases having an impact on policy discussion in the Southern Hemisphere.'

Run time: 24 mins. See also James Panichi, 'Cryosite's small gun-jumping fine prompts judge's concerns over weak deterrent effect' (mlex, 14 February 2019) and visit case page for more details.

Antitrust 3: Big Tech
NPR, Planet Money, 22 February 2019 (just under 6 mins)

'This is the third episode in our series on antitrust law in America. Our first episode told the story of Ida Tarbell and how her reporting on John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil changed antitrust law in the early 1900s. Our second episode followed the turn that took place in the 1970s in response to Robert Bork's Antitrust Paradox.

For this episode, we're looking at the present, and toward a future where markets may be dominated by tech giants like Facebook, Amazon, and Google. A new wave of antitrust thinkers is asking if the size and reach of these companies is a threat to competition, and ultimately to consumers. It's the backlash to the backlash introduced by Robert Bork in the seventies, and a reassessment of the relationship between the government and business in the United States.'

Antitrust 2: The Paradox
NPR, Planet Money, 20 February 2019 (just over20 mins)

'This is the second episode in our series on the history of competition, big business and antitrust law in America. Quick recap:

A little more than a hundred years ago, the Supreme Court broke up the Standard Oil company. It was a turning point in the balance of power between enormous companies and the free market. ...

In the decades after that, the government got more and more aggressive—intervening in the free market more and more until a lawyer named Robert Bork completely transformed the way antitrust law works in America, and paved the way for today's tech giants.'

Antitrust 1: Standard Oil
NPR, Planet Money, 15 February 2019 (just under 24 mins) (transcript available)

'Today on the show, we're launching a three part series on antitrust law, one of the most important but least-understood bodies of law in the United States.

For this first episode in the series, we're starting at the very beginning, in the nineteenth century, with the story of John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil. We go to Titusville, Pennsylvania, and retrace the steps of muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell as she uncovers the back room deals struck by Rockefeller, then one of the world's richest men. Tarbell's investigative reporting in the early 1900s inspired a court case that helped change the design of the American economy.'

Stigler Center conference
2019 Antitrust and Competition Conference - Digital Platforms, Markets and Democracy: A Path Forward
(Chicago, 15-16 May 2019)

Not so much a podcast as the full conference proceedings, segmented.

Go straight to YouTube playlist

Antitrust and breaking up Big Tech
'These Vergecast episodes explain antitrust and breaking up Big Tech'
By Andrew Marino, 8 March 2019

The first is 'Tim Wu thinks it's time to break up Facebook' (4 September 2018, 46 mins), the second is 'Silicon Valley's Rep Ro Khanna talks tech regulation' (27 November 2018) and the third is 'Lina Khan on Amazon's Antitrust Paradox' (5 Feb 2018)

Antitrust in the New Guilded Age
Evolve the Law Podcast Episode 137 with Tim Wu

'In this week’s episode, Professor Tim Wu and host Ian Connett (@QuantumJurist) explain how we arrived at the New Gilded Age, why “trust-busting” actually fuels tech innovation cycles, the economic heroism of Louis Brandeis (aka the original start up business lawyer) and why Big Tech is almost certainly in for a big break up.'

Run time: 43 mins. Published 14 December 2018

Google, our "God"?
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), speaks with Google's Chief Economist, Hal Varian

Competition Lore episode 15; published 21 November 2018. Run time is 41 mins

Competition Lore podcast, 'What's the 'right' regulation for Facebook?' with Sam Knox, Facebook's Associate General Counsel.

Making America Antitrust Again
WNYC Studios | Published 17 November 2018 | Run time: 14: 32mins (Transcript available and downloadable audio)

'Since Amazon’s founding in 1994, the corporation has taken over industry after industry, defining what we buy and how we buy. Stacy Mitchell is the co-director of Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Earlier this year she wrote an article for The Nation called, “Amazon doesn’t just want to dominate the market — it wants to become the market.” Stacy and Brooke talk about the history of regulation of corporate concentration and where the movement is headed.'

Why we need maverick academics
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), speaks with Prof Iannis Lianos on the importance of academic independence.

Competition Lore episode 14; published 8 November 2018. Run time is 29 mins

Academics in the age of big tech?
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), speaks with Prof Daniel Sokol.

Competition Lore episode 13. Run time is 31 mins. Published 13 October 2018

The DOJ’s Richard Powers on Antitrust Enforcement
'Richard Powers, the Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement in the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division was good enough to sit down for a podcast and share where the DOJ’s priorities are in this significant risk area.'

Run time: 14 mins. Published 11 October 2018

Antitrust: Price-Fixing and Collusion
Corporate compliance insights | Lisa Phelan, who until very recently was responsible for criminal enforcement of U.S. antitrust laws and is now a partner with Morrison & Foerster, explains the world of antitrust violations.

Run time: 25 mins. Published 5 September 2019

Amazon and Antiturst
University of Chicago Law Review. Run time 26 mins. Published 28 August 2019

'On today's show, we discuss Amazon's rapid rise and the pressure the internet retailer is putting on traditional antitrust law. Our guests include Geoffrey Manne of the International Center for Law and Economics and Lina Khan of the Open Market Institute.'

Competition and algorithms - friend of foe?
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), speaks with Prof Michal Gal.

Competition Lore episode 10. Run time is 65 mins. Released 18 August 2018.

Why Antitrust?
'Vic Domen, Amanda Wait, and Tom York talk about what attracted them to antitrust and give advice to those considering a career in antitrust.'

Run time: 18 mins. Published 17 August 2019

What's the Point of Antitrust?
Legal Talk Network | ABA Section of Antitrust Law (from Spring meeting 2018)
5 June 2018 (34 mins)

'Anora Wang and Tom York interview antitrust professors Bill Kovacic and Andy Gavil about the new policy debate.

There is an ongoing debate about the appropriate role and objectives of antitrust law. Although there have been debates on these subjects for 50 years, how have recent events like the rise in technology and the great recession shaped the current role of antitrust? In this report from the ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting 2018, hosts Anora Wang and Tom York interview antitrust professors Bill Kovacic and Andy Gavil about the new policy debate. They discuss the forces that have shaped the field over time, where it is now, and where it’s headed in the future.'

Antitrust and Big Tech, and Is Corporate Lobbying A Good or Bad Thing?
Harvard Business Review | Published 17 May 2018 | Run time 31:28 mins

'In this episode, hosts Youngme Moon, Mihir Desai, and Felix Oberholzer-Gee discuss antitrust and whether we should be concerned about the size of the big tech companies; debate the propriety of corporate lobbying; and offer their After Hours Picks for the week.'

Australia needs tougher penalties for banks, financial institutions, ACCC says
ABC - RN Breakfast with Fran Kelly on 23 April 2018.
Includes 12 minute downloadable audio

Technology & Competition law: A conversation with Stephen King
Economic Society of Australia (Victoria) podcast (April 2018)