Judge Rules AT&T Can Acquire Time Warner (wsj.com)

A federal judge said Tuesday that AT&T's $85.4 billion purchase of Time Warner is legal, clearing the path for a deal that gives the pay-TV provider ownership of cable channels such as HBO and CNN as well as film studio Warner Bros. From a report: U.S. District Judge Richard Leon announced his decision in a packed courtroom, ruling that antitrust enforcers at the Justice Department had not proven their case against the merger. The decision, in one of the biggest antitrust cases in decades, is a milestone victory for AT&T as it looks to reposition itself in a rapidly evolving media landscape. Its deal for Time Warner, valued at roughly $80 billion, has been pending since October 2016. The acquisition means AT&T will be the nation's top pay-TV distributor, through its ownership of DirecTV, as well as the owner of some of the country's most sought-after channels: Time Warner's Turner networks -- including CNN, TBS and TNT -- as well as HBO, the most popular U.S. premium network.

Comments

Are you fucking kidding me?

[DogDude]

Now, our business has the choice of exactly *one* shitty ISP. Fucking wonderful.

It's really difficult to run a business in the US due to our shocking lack of regulations.

Re:Are you fucking kidding me?

[ShanghaiBill]

if you dont like a free market, move to cuba or canaDUH

The term "free market" is ambiguous. It can mean "free of regulation" or it can mean "free of barriers to competition". In practice, these two things are often opposites, especially with businesses that are natural monopolies or that have strong network effects.

Not a problem

[PPH]

Just have AT&T divest its wireless and broadband services as a condition of the merger.

As the saying goes

[rsilvergun]

elections have consequences. You're the first person I've heard make the point that it's hard to run a business due to a _lack_ of regulations. I'm not saying you're wrong (you're dead on actually). But I've just had the narrative of regulations making business harder pounded into my skull so long it's hard to imagine the opposite, even when I logically what you're saying.

Show up to your primaries

[rsilvergun]

folks. And then at your mid-terms. If you want change you need to start voting these bums out. Don't forget most judges are appointed. The party that appointed this judge didn't. That's why this merger sailed through with zero conditions. And it's why you'll be paying $200/mo for high speed internet in a few years.