AT&T and Time Warner ’s top brassmet with a US Senate antitrust panelon Wednesday to indicate that the proposed $ 85 billion uniting of the two ship’s company would aid competition rather than smart it . This sounds like a big , turned on pile of bullshit .
Federal lawmakers expressed concern that the elephantine telecom merger would create incentives for AT&T to turn down licence Time Warner content to competitors like Comcast and Verizon . They also expressed fear that AT&T would favour its own movies and goggle box show over content from smaller companies like Netflix . Based on therecent controversysurrounding AT&T give priority to its own DirectTV Now stream videos , however , it ’s hard to imagine that AT&T will miss the chance to get a branch up against its contender .
In front of the Senate subcommittee today , AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson brazenly ignore concerns of potentially anticompetitive behavior . The spectacled executive director , according to a New York Timesreport , told lawmakers that the merger would “ disrupt the entrenched remuneration - TV modelling ” and give customers more options .
AT&T isalready entangledin an ongoing antimonopoly battle with the Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) over its young DirecTV Now streaming video offering . AT&TacquiredDirecTV in 2015 as part of a $ 50 billion deal , and the newly redundant - brawny telecom company has already started using its possession over the media company to edge out competitors . The controversy commence quietly in belated November , when the FCCsent a decisive letterto AT&T impeach the caller of “ unreasonably single out ” against other video services by offering its own DirecTV Now picture service without the price of data charges — something that companies like Netflix and SlingTV could never do without own a wireless connection .
Critics , including the FCC , have predict this behavior anticompetitive and say itconflicts withfederal nett disinterest rules . The concept at play in the DirecTV Now office is call “ zero rating , ” and it ’s a sound workaround that telecom companies use to offer benefits to customer that the competition either ca n’t or wo n’t declare oneself . In the casing of DirecTV Now , AT&T customers can watch over limitless DirecTV content , but not Netflix . The business practice is criticized by consumer watchdog groups as a “ pay up - to - play ” place that favors bragging content provider who can afford to pay for admittance to net users .
Perhaps the scariest matter about AT&T ’s late , monopolistic doings is the fact that regulations may soon convert with the incoming Trump administration . The president - elect has already build anFCC conversion teamwith lifelong resister of net neutrality , and he ’ll before long announce his selection for the new Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) chairman with advisement from those individuals . Although AT&T is under fire powerful now , things could exchange when Trump appoint a unexampled president .
Inevitably , the rhetorical hope AT&T executive made today were entire bullshit — but they might just get away with it . It would be crazy to expect anything other than a atrocious telecommunication conglomerate growing out of the year 2016 . The Oxford Dictionary articulate thatthe word of the year is “ post - trueness . ”Who knows what could happen next .
We ’ve strain out to AT&T to learn more about this post and will update this post if we hear back .
AT&TDIRECTV
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , skill , and culture news in your inbox day by day .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
Please pick out your desired newssheet and submit your email to upgrade your inbox .
You May Also Like
