We should not confuse 'multiple' choices with 'independent' choices. For example, we now have 'multiple' sources of news and information offered by NBC -- the national broadcast network, CNBC, and MSNBC -- which is all to the good. However, by contrast, 'independent' choices are available to viewers by the emergence of competitors to CNN -- MSNBC and Fox News (as cited in Ann, 2003)."

While, on the other hand, Commissioner Michael Powell (Republican) paid attention to the intangible, manifold proposes and implications of variety:

In all likelihood, however, the pivotal issues in this proceeding are likely to revolve around diversity. While competitive concerns are traditionally evaluated using well-established analytical standards, diversity is a much more visceral matter -- bathed in difficult subjective judgments and debated in amorphous terms. It has always been difficult to articulate clearly the government's interest in 'diversity', and it has become even more difficult to do...
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