News In Brief

Warner to contest ruling against recordings merger

Warner Communications said it planned to contest in court Tuesdays's Federal Trade Commission decision blocking a joint venture with Polygram Records to merge their recorded-music businesses.

Warner is the second-largest record distributor in the United States, while Polygram, which is jointly owned by Philips of the Netherlands and Siemens of West Germany, is the sixth largest.

The FTC said the proposed joint venture might create a monopoly in the prerecorded-music market. Warner said the decision failed to recognize the basic problems facing the record industry.