COMPANY TOWN ANNEX

U.S. Checking MTV Competition Plan: The Justice Department’s antitrust division has begun an inquiry into the plan of five powerful record companies to form a channel to compete with MTV. The music divisions of Time Warner Inc., Sony Corp., Thorn EMI, PolyGram Holdings NV and Bertelsmann Music Group--which together control about 80% of the worldwide trade in recorded music--plan to challenge MTV with their own 24-hour channel by the end of the year. That project has raised concerns at the Justice Department about whether MTV or other companies could be deprived of videos they need.