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AT&T Promised Lower Prices After Time Warner Merger -- It's Raising Them Instead (arstechnica.com)
Less than a month after AT&T completed its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, the company is raising the base price of its DirecTV Now streaming service by $5 per month. This comes after promising in court that its acquisition would lover TV prices. Ars Technica reports: AT&T confirmed the price increase to Ars and said it began informing customers of the increase this past weekend. "The $5 increase will go into effect July 26 for new customers and varies for existing customers based on their billing date," an AT&T spokesperson said. The $5 increase will affect all DirecTV Now tiers except for a Spanish-language TV package, AT&T told Ars. That means the DirecTV Now packages that currently cost $35, $50, $60, and $70 a month will go up to $40, $55, $65, and $75. "To continue delivering the best possible streaming experience for both new and existing customers, we're bringing the cost of this service in line with the market -- which starts at a $40 price point," AT&T said.
In a court filing, trying to convince the Justice Department that its acquisition would be good for consumers, AT&T had this to say: "The evidence overwhelmingly showed that this merger is likely to enhance competition substantially, because it will enable the merged company to reduce prices, offer innovative video products, and compete more effectively against the increasingly powerful, vertically integrated 'FAANG' [Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google] companies," AT&T told U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in the brief.
In a court filing, trying to convince the Justice Department that its acquisition would be good for consumers, AT&T had this to say: "The evidence overwhelmingly showed that this merger is likely to enhance competition substantially, because it will enable the merged company to reduce prices, offer innovative video products, and compete more effectively against the increasingly powerful, vertically integrated 'FAANG' [Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google] companies," AT&T told U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in the brief.
I'm in total shock. Who could have possibly seen this coming?
Required reading for internet skeptics
I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked!
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
'enable to reduce' does not mean 'will reduce'. Stop reading what you want to see and instead read what's actually there.
Every liberal economic pundit predicted this would happen. Simple economics.
Most conservatives eagerly yearned for this merger and a conservative judge allowed it to proceed. Now they are blaming Liberals for letting the merger happen. The only question this time around is, will conservatives blame Mexico or a non-white group of people for the rise in prices. That's always what it comes down to.
Who did not see this coming . . .
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
And those who do learn from history are doomed to watch everyone else repeat it.
The Trump administration (republican) predicted it and sued to stop the merger. Your Fake News didn't mention that.
Bzzzt! Wrong.
The Trump administration opposed the AT&T -- Time Warner merger because Time Warner owns CNN. Trump hates CNN because they aren't sympathetic to him, like Fox News is.
Fake news is a deliberate fabrication, written to deceive, confuse, or enrage (e.g., Pizzagate.) It is not the same as news with errors. It is not even the same as news written with a bias. Fake news is written by fake reporters.
Trump, on the other hand, defines fake news as anything he doesn't agree with.