AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner • Hacker News Board

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

#101

Post by rosser » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 10:31 PM UTC

windows_tips wrote: post #99

rosser wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. T…

Is there actually a market for things like CNN? It seems that CNN being shoved in your face is kind of its thing.

I mean as opposed to, say, Netflix or Hulu.

AT&T can, under the present legal regime, perfectly legitimately say, "Here's all this 'free' content for you. You'll have to subscribe to the 'Not Our Content' package to access those other services..."

But, sure. Let's run with your example: imagine you had an ISP who let you read Fox News for free, but charged you to visit CNN.

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

#102

Post by fermienrico » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 10:32 PM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #87

jshap70 wrote: post #7

consumer protection: what is it

https://i.imgflip.com/2c40f3.jpg (I know, I'm sorry)

Then don't post it. Sigh.

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

#103

Post by ksk » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 10:34 PM UTC

It seems like every commercial actor wants to be the platform (add "value" as an integrator/provider), and avoid being abstracted out under the platform.

"Internet is just a dumb pipe" "Why dont all PCs ship with just a vanilla Windows install" OR "Why don't all smartphones just install vanilla Android" "The programmer is irrelevant" "The OS is irrelevant" "The browser used is irrelevant" "Cable providers are irrelevant"

etc.. etc

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

#104

Post by ribosometronome » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 10:34 PM UTC

platinumrad wrote: post #29

jandrese wrote: post #8

Yet more media consolidation. And this one has the inherent conflicts of interest you get when a distributor buys out a producer. And of course the idea of protecting the public interest isn't a thing anymore in DC.

To be fair, the DOJ actually tried to stop this but was overruled by the courts.

To be fair, the DOJ's motives were completely tainted by Trump's hostility toward CNN.

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

#105

Post by xigency » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 10:35 PM UTC

niftich wrote: post #72

The acquisition target is 'Time Warner Inc.', primarily a television and film company, whose products and subvisions include HBO and Cinemax, the TV networks CNN, TBS, Turner Classic Movies, TNT, and various joint ventures with US sports leagues, and Warner Bros, which now includes DC Comics/DC Entertainment. Meanwhile, AT&T is largely a telecom and satellite broadcast company, which under its various subsidiaries of…

The part that bothers me about each of those acquisitions is that none of those utility companies are well-liked by their customers (instead being the most hated companies). The fact that they all have the ability to acquire these other large entities which aren't reviled shows that they really are scalping their customers. And it isn't just Comcast or AT&T or Verizon, it's all of them. That is highly irregular for them to all be so despised and successful.

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

#106

Post by xienze » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 10:35 PM UTC

rosser wrote: post #81

EpicEng wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. T…

> 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.

Will they though? I don’t recall such a thing happening prior to NN. It always seems that people’s fantasies about what can happen without NN are worse than what will (or did).

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

#107

Post by jadedhacker » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 10:36 PM UTC

Media consolidation infographic from 2011. Back then, six companies controlled 90% of the market. I wonder where we're at now?

http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-...

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

#108

Post by rosser » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 10:36 PM UTC

xienze wrote: post #106

rosser wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. T…

> 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. Will they though? I don’t recall such a thing happening prior to NN. It always seems that people’s fantasies about what can happen without NN are worse than what will (or did).

Remember when AT&T blocked FaceTime because it competed with their own product?

I do.

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

#109

Post by bmelton » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 10:37 PM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #83

forapurpose wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'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 indus…

> if the edge case is possible, it will happen

By that argument, you will:

* beat your wife

* murder an enemy

* shoot up a school full of children

* commit arson

* jump bail

* evade arrest

* die in a hail of bullets

So, assuming all those eventualities, why shouldn't we just put you to death now?

To spare you the rhetorical exercise, the answer is because we don't punish you for the things you might do, but only punish you for a) the things that you have done, b) that we can prove, c) beyond a reasonable doubt, d) in a court of law, e) before a jury of your peers.

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

#110

Post by whoopdedo » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 10:38 PM UTC

jandrese wrote: post #8

Yet more media consolidation. And this one has the inherent conflicts of interest you get when a distributor buys out a producer. And of course the idea of protecting the public interest isn't a thing anymore in DC.

The distributor/producer boat sailed with NBC-Universal-Comcast.