Business urges Brussels to protect cultural diversity

Some of Europe's biggest media groups and telecom companies have asked the European Commission to reject an offer from most of the EU's national royalty-collecting societies to settle an anti-trust case.

In a letter to commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and EU anti-trust commissioner Neelie Kroes, the 27 companies – such as RTL, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom – warn that their businesses and the bloc's "cultural diversity" will suffer if Brussels accepts the deal.

"We u...