In 1979, few could envision the growth of ESPN into a media behemoth that inspires awe, jealousy and contests to be a "SportsCenter" anchor.

A tightly niche-marketed title selling only 48,000 copies worldwide would normally fly way beneath the radar of that media behemoth.

The specter of action by the review committee was a new twist in a nasty skirmish between two media behemoths that has now spilled over into city politics.

Air America, on which Franken was hosting a self-titled talk radio program at the time of writing, has grown from being "just a radio network" to an "international media behemoth".

Yet the pairing of a renegade music company and a media behemoth may not be the mismatch that it seems.

"It's frightening in a way, because it's Clear Channel on a smaller scale," he added, referring to the media behemoth that controls more than 1,200 radio stations nationwide.

With 12,000 employees and less than $5 billion in annual revenues, the online company has swallowed a media behemoth with 70,000 employees and nearly $27 billion in revenues.

Given the profitability of local stations, it was no surprise that yesterday's statements from the media behemoths could have been written by a common hand.

But as the stocks of Google and Yahoo soar, the media behemoths will come under increasing pressure to behave more like the grown-up companies that they are.

As for concerns about media behemoths raising ad rates too high, Mr. Burg said: "It always comes down to whether you are getting fair value.