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AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner

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Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner

#81

Post by rosser »

EpicEng wrote: post #66
djsumdog wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that really matter? Just because it isn't becoming an Internet monopoly, it's still a content+distribution mega-corp that can squeeze its competitors and limit options for consumers.

It matters when ~50% of the comments are talking about net neutrality and Time Warner Cable hasn't existed for more than two years.

It also seems to matter as a diversionary tactic, employed to curtail discussion of the dearth of meaningful competition in broadband.

And it ignores that TWC was acquired by another ISP, meaning that sale, whenever it happened, also curtailed broadband competition.

On top of all that, with the end of NN, AT&T can preferentially shove TWX content in your face, and force you to pay extra to consume someone else's.

That is absolutely relevant, and it's disingenuous, at best, to suggest otherwise.

Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner

#82

Post by forapurpose »

gzu wrote: post #21

It’s crazy to me how one judge gets to decide the fate of a 100 billion dollar merger. Humans are fallible.

Judges are subject to many checks on their power. First, they only can rule on cases brought before their court, which requires two other parties to want a trial (including, in this case, the Justice Department). Also, unless they are in the Supreme Court, judges generally do not choose which cases they hear. Finally, and most significantly, they also are restricted by laws made by the legislature, precedent made by other judges and higher courts, the facts, juries (if the litigants wish to use them), principles of law, and appeals.

Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner

#83

Post by komali2 »

forapurpose wrote: post #80
hermitdev wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except when they do. Activist judges & judicial legislation [0] are not a new thing. [0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/judicial%20legisl...

'Activist judge' is indeed a term in the English language, but what does it have to do with this case? There are 'drunk airplane pilots', but does that make the pilot of the plane I'm going to board a suspect?

I think of it in an engineery sense - if the edge case is possible, it will happen.

Maybe that works for software engineering, where it's a good idea to pause a release in case someone uses scripts to send a shitload of bad requests to our API and crashes a server because of our bug or whatever, but I understand that that doesn't work 1:1 with the real world, where it doesn't make sense to not have the aviation industry until we perfect self-flying planes.

Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner

#84

Post by awat »

allthenews wrote: post #48
staunch wrote: post #35

Technology will help the citizenry destroy these evil megacorps. It's just a matter of time and some improvements in technology. The world where ABC/CBS/NBC/NYTimes/Time/etc could control what people think is over. In the near future we will have a much more educated populace. They will flex their power in ways that seem unimaginable now. When the information revolution finally arrives, these megacorps will be the fi…

You put too much faith into the average person's desire for education. Most people don't know and/or don't care.

This is sadly my experience too. Both my parents are educators and life long learners.

It still floors me how many conversations they had with my younger siblings friends parents (I was present) were it more or less went. Friend parent makes baseless or incorrect assertion my history buff father retorted and they just said well I don’t care anyways.

Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner

#85

Post by shmerl »

djsumdog wrote: post #34
shmerl wrote: post #16

So, will anti-trust please bust this monster? And split Comcast along the way too (media from ISP), for good measure.

No, this is the result of that failure. ATT/TW wanted to do this in 2016 as the other comments state. This was the approval.

Anti-trust is so royally messed up in US. It hurts the economy.

Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner

#86

Post by jonknee »

walru wrote: post #9

>to lead the next generation in innovation. Meanwhile I have 300k internet in Pasadena, CA. That's the fastest they offer. My roommate doesn't care and won't upgrade to Spectrum. Why is it whenever I read the above it means the opposite?

What does that have to do with AT&T buying HBO, some cable channels and a movie studio? This is to compete with Netflix, not about providing broadband.

Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner

#88

Post by unclebucknasty »

gm-conspiracy wrote: post #77
opencl wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has nothing to do with the broadband market. Time Warner Cable was spun off from Time Warner in 2009 and subsequently bought up by Spectrum in 2016.

Nobody wants to be "dumb pipes".

Cable companies created regional monopolies with municipalities and used that protection to lay their lines. By the time the 1992 Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act rolled around, they'd established natural monopolies based on that infrastructure and they have benefitted from that ever since.

They don't want to be "dumb pipes", but they also won't give access to those dumb pipes, ensuring that no one else can compete with them upstream. Seems they shouldn't be able to have it both ways, but here we are. So, the next-best-thing would be to assign protection through edicts like Net Neutrality and rigorous anti-trust policing.

Yet, these are now being dismantled as well. Not a good place we're heading.

Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner

#89

Post by ajonnav »

> The judge indicated during the trial that he wasn’t buying Shapiro’s projection. After his testimony, Leon said he was "confused." Further explanation from Shapiro didn’t help. "I’m not sure I got it, but it’s too late and too hot to belabor the point any further," the judge said.

Amazing on so many different levels.

(Shapiro is the economist whose model the DOJ based their case off of).

Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner

#90

Post by fomopop »

For those who cut the cord, some things that may come out of this:

1. AT&T announced they were launching an entertainment only live streaming service for $15 (or free to AT&T subscribers) which will compete with Philo.

2. They will continue to give away free or cheap HBO to AT&T or DIRECTV NOW customers

3. Comcast will more aggressively bid for FOX which means either Disney or Comcast will become the majority stakeholder for Hulu

https://medium.com/fomopop/what-at-t-time-warner-deal-means-...

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