Slashdot Mirror
ATT, DirecTV Mega-Merger May Go Through
An anonymous reader writes: Hot on the heels of Comcast's failed attempt to swallow up Time Warner Cable, AT&T's pursuit of satellite provider DirecTV is plowing forward. What would be the result of a wireline and cellular mega-monopoly buying one of only two subscription satellite TV providers? Has to be worse than a Comcast/TWC marriage ... at least there, the territories and services offered didn't overlap at all, but AT&T offers voice, data, and television in many markets already. Adding satellite would stifle competition for television services (and to a lesser extent, because satellite is only best suited for rural installations, data).
SlingTV is offered by Dish, not DirecTV.
Well, I'll take a stab at it.
TWC and Comcast were two companies that offered the same product in completely different markets. In terms of their affect on the market, they would have had more power over, say, publishers (ie the TV networks), but no more power over, say, home Internet/Cable/Telephone prices than they did before, as the amount of competition in each area would have been unchanged.
The power over publishers may have been good or bad, depending on whether it's "We insist you unbundle ESPN and make it a la carte, or else nobody in half the country will be able to get it or the other networks you want bundled any more!" or "We insist that Comedy Central now be a TWComcast-only channel!" thing.
DirecTV and AT&T however are two companies that offer overlapping products in overlapping markets. Therefore, if you already live in an area served by AT&T, you will get one less choice (and thus see less competition) for TV service (at minimum) than you did before. Meanwhile AT&T gets to also turn the screws on TV networks. And additionally AT&T gets less suitors for bundling Internet access with satellite service - namely Dish Network can no longer offer discounted broadband by reselling AT&T's.
So yeah, it's worse.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.