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Justice Department Tells Time Warner It Must Sell CNN Or DirecTV To Approve Its AT&T Merger (nytimes.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the sale-pending dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source): The Justice Department has called on AT&T and Time Warner to sell Turner Broadcasting, the group of cable channels that includes CNN, as a potential requirement for approving the companies' pending $85.4 billion deal, people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. The other potential way the merger could win approval would be for AT&T to sell its DirecTV division, two of these people added. As originally envisioned, combining AT&T and Time Warner would yield a giant company offering wireless and broadband internet service, DirecTV, the Warner Brothers movie studio and cable channels like HBO and CNN. If the Justice Department formally makes either demand a requisite for approval, AT&T and Time Warner would almost certainly take the matter to court to challenge the government's legal basis for blocking their deal.

3 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Re:FIX THE HEADLINE by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Side note, DTV customer service SUCKS since the AT&T takeover. We made a small change to our service, they screwed it up, then they screwed up the billing for it, and it has taken about 5-10 so far to try to get it fixed, and (as of right now) it's still not fixed. DTV was never perfect, but if there was a problem (and that was rare), it was usually fixed with a call or two. The current problem is not even the first we've had in the couple years since the takeover.

    Your mistake is believing it's accidental. If it's a billing error, it means it was a billing "error" in their favor (or you wouldn't be calling them about it).

    Think about it this way - if they can screw maybe 10% of their subscriber base out a few extra bucks a month, that's a few million in the bank. Sure they'll call and bitch, but eventually they'll give up of the 2 hour + times on the phone dealing with a $3 overcharge

    And heck, they probably know what phone numbers you call from, so they can "all agents are currently busy andd we'll handle your call in priority order" you for an extra half hour or more.

    The goal is to make it not worth your time to call them to fix it so they can keep dinging you an extra few bucks a month.

    Same with the "you'll see a credit on your next bill". They hope you'll forget about the money by then, too.

  2. Re:Silly Justice Department by PCM2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What does it even matter now? The readership of the flagship journalism outlets like the Washington Post and the New York Times is falling

    Actually, though I can't speak for total figures, digital-only subscriptions to the outlets you mention have exploded in the Trump era, more than tripling year-on-year: http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/2...

    You know who says otherwise? Trump.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
  3. Sinclair Media | Tribune Media Merger: Okay! :/ by SEMLogistics · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So... Where is this standard applied to the FCC allowing the Sinclair Broadcasting acquisition of Tribune Media assets? This will essentially create the single largest TV broadcasting conglomerate on the face of the planet (conservative friendly, of course). Such a conglomerate would control multiple news media outlets, in many locations, essentially dominating local news for much of the US...