TECHNOLOGY - Sept. 20, 1995
<i> Times Staff and Wire Reports</i>
Europe Online Faces Antitrust Inquiry: The European Commission opened an investigation into an on-line information venture involving three of Europe’s biggest publishers amid concern that it will stifle competition. Europe Online, a venture of Pearson, Matra-Hachette and Burda, plans to start offering services before the end of the year. Several of the world’s biggest media and telecommunications companies have entered the European market to profit from its rapid expansion. They include America Online, the biggest U.S. on-line service provider, Bertelsmann and Microsoft Network. That has prompted concern at the commission that a few large companies will dominate the industry, shutting out competition and limiting growth potential.
