As Tony Miller, Definity's boss, points out, price transparency not only helps consumers manage their resources, but also promotes competition among doctors participating in the network.

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It's partly to take advantage of the network's massive Summer Olympics promotional platform (as well as Sunday Night Football, which is a key player in the network's performance), and partly to avoid the competition.

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The biggest is the degree of competition in the market, which governments have generally encouraged by allowing the construction of rival infrastructure to the telephone network, usually in the form of cable networks.

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Among 18 to 49-year-olds, the network ended the first half of the season in last place among its major broadcast competition.

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In the face of growing competition from cable channels and the Web, the Fox broadcast network has had a better story to tell than most.

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Network operators will be playing their part, keen to make sure there is more competition in the market to drive down the price of the hardware.

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Antitrust sceptics following the case have been at pains to argue that these network effects do not, in practice, make the product in question immune to competition.

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Toyota is to streamline its sales network this year and launch its premium Lexus brand in the home market next year, intensifying competition.

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