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Justice Department Appeals Time Warner-AT&T Merger Approval (cnbc.com)
The Justice Department will appeal the AT&T-Time Warner merger approval, according to a court document filed Thursday. In one of the largest U.S. antitrust cases in decades, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled last month that the merger could go on despite the government's resistance. The feds did not seek a stay that would have prevented the merger from taking place, and AT&T and Time Warner closed the deal directly after Leon's ruling.
AOL is part of Oath now (which is a Verizon company).
So you're expecting Verizon to buy AT&T?
Verizon might buy AT&T, why not?
Synergies or something.
The government argued that the deal would make the pay-TV market "less competitive and less innovative."
I would love to see this merger undone but I'm not actually that worried about the competitive market for film and TV. AT&T has Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and Disney/Fox to compete against. Even with the recent changes to HBO I expect that most the talent will switch to one of these other companies. Remember, after the merger, they're charging $5 more for DirectTV so that it now costs $35/mo. That's not exactly a competitive price. This merger may be just as damaging to consumers as the AOL/Time Warner merger was.
I do worry about them prioritizing their media through their internet network. Still, i don't think an appeal will happen because the judge didn't set any conditions for them to violate.
Yes, just like back in the old days when Slashdot was warning of the AOL/Time MONOPOLY that would end humanity!
Didn't end. Oh well.
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right as they're about to get another pro-corporate justice who's likely to side with AT&T...
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Interestingly, any appeal will likely bring up the fact that ATT committed perjury.
You mean this? AT&T Promised Lower Prices After Time Warner Merger -- It's Raising Them Instead. Is not that some sort of breach of agreement?
There's a large difference between anti-trust actions and thinking the FCC has the authority to institute NN.
Especially since Kavanaugh's NN jursiprudence explicitly doesn't apply in areas where there is only one significant class of cable operator.
inb4 someone complains that AT&T now has a networks monopoly
(This is what's left of Time Warner the media company, not Time Warner the cable company.)
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This Ma Bell is not That Ma Bell. AT&T is the renamed company when Soutwestern Bell bought Cingular.
That was the same problem JEDEC ran into with Rambus. According to JEDEC rules, members weren't allowed to patent the technologies being discussed. The members were laying the framework for DDR2, and Rambus simply lifted it and patented it. After a lot of court cases, the courts finally decided that Rambus had violated the terms they'd agreed to when they joined JEDEC. However, since the membership terms didn't lay out any penalties for what would happen if someone violated the rules, the only recourse JEDEC had was to kick Rambus out. Outside of JEDEC, Rambus' patents were still valid.
If there's no guaranteed penalty for breaking a promise, the promise is worthless.
This creates a monopoly and needs to be reviewed.
If there's no guaranteed penalty for breaking a promise, the promise is worthless.
Hmm... Even though the promise is worthless, at least the merge should become invalid. Thus, TW can't be merged with AT&T. I still see that it is worth it.
You mean this? AT&T Promised Lower Prices After Time Warner Merger -- It's Raising Them Instead. Is not that some sort of breach of agreement?
Technically, AT&T did lower prices. They now offer a streaming tv service called WatchTV that's $15 per month or free if you have an AT&T wireless unlimited plan. They didn't offer this prior to the merger.
This was a result of the merger.