When AT&T and Time Warner
announced their merger plans last year, the immediate reaction by many politicians
and some others was that the mega media deal was too big and would negatively
impact the competitive landscape of the media industry.
Nine months later, Trump has
come around, seemingly less concerned about the concentration of power, in
spite of his disdain for CNN, one of Time Warner’s key assets. Meanwhile, Democrats are still not fans of the
deal as revealed in a seven-page letter to the DOJ penned by a group a prominent
players in the party (e.g. E. Warren, B. Sanders). The opening paragraph of June 21 letter reads:
“We have strong
concerns that the combined company's unmatched control of popular content and
the distribution of that content will lead to higher prices, fewer choices, and
poorer quality services for Americans - substantial harms that cannot be
remedied with unreliable, unenforceable, and time-limited behavioral
conditions. Our constituents face significant and growing costs for
telecommunications services. Before initiating the next big wave of media
consolidation, you must consider how the $85 billion deal will impact
Americans' wallets, as well as their access to a wide-range of news and
entertainment programming. Should you determine that the substantial harms to
competition and consumers arising from the transaction outweigh the purported
benefits, you should reject the proposed acquisition.”
Given their high level of
dislike for each other, will this letter actually “encourage” the DOJ (Jeff
Sessions) to approve the deal? I think
it just might!
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