The simple question:Will such an extraordinary conglomeration of power ultimately be good for American consumers, or for TV companies and producers not affiliated with major players? The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department used to examine such questions more closely, but the chief executives at both Disney and Capital Cities/ABC said Monday they believed they could answer any questions raised without jeopardizing the deal.

The Disney/ABC deal makes Westinghouse/CBS look especially trivial by comparison. If Westinghouse/CBS goes through, which now seems certain, it will be the union of two hobbled, deeply troubled companies.

CBS is so far behind ABC in so many waysweaker programming, a weaker news division, no cable networksthat it will take many years to catch up with the Disney/ABC behemoth. Bluntly put, CBS may be left in the dust. Group WWestinghouse’s broadcasting arm is, in fact, a successful company with interests in cable and satellite transmission. But it has virtually no power base in Hollywood. Disney’s power base there is widespreadand widely feared.

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Even NBCstill unattached to a major Hollywood studio instantly becomes a second-class player in the world of global media politics.

NBC has aggressively pursued foriegn joint ventures; it has a new international TV service (NBC Superchannel); a barely profitable cable network (CNBC); and a still-unprofitable one (America’s Talking). Did we forget to mention significant growth at the network, particularly in prime-time program ratings?

Yet compared to Disney/ABC, this is small beer, indeed. ABC’s prime-time, daytime, late-night, news and morning schedules are all ratings leaders. A&E, Lifetime and ESPNwhich it has ownerships stakes inare all cash cows. The company also has vastand, yes, profitableradio and publishing holdings.