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AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner

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41–50 of 284 posts

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

#41

In the context of net neutrality ending, this looks like AT&T acquiring the means to exploit discriminatory traffic routing. It seems like there will be a gold rush of sorts, towards building walled gardens, segmenting the Internet into fiefs. Does ending NN allow an ISP to completely block a website? I.e. to what extent does this also open up the door to overt political censorship?

Time Warner the ISP was bought years ago. This is Time Warner the entertainment company.

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

#42

The DOJ had tried to stop the deal[1] but it appears that the court ruled it could carry on [2]. Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim said in a statement the DOJ was "disappointed with the Court's decision today. We continue to believe that the pay-TV market will be less competitive and less innovative as a result of the proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner. We will closely review the Court's opinion and…

Can they appeal the case in higher courts?

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

#43
>Judge Leon limited how DOJ lawyers questioned certain witnesses and expressed visible skepticism of testimony by the government’s chief economic witness, who presented an empirical model that predicted the deal would lead to small but significant price increases in monthly cable bills. AT&T countered with its own academic economist who said it wouldn’t.

Yeah, I’m sure this won’t lead to _small_ price increases for consumers.

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

#44
Neither of these companies really affects me as a non-American. But it feels like it just paves the way for mergers of companies that do.

I started thinking of international examples, which got me thinking about Google and Apple. Who in a way feel like they're post-colossal-merger companies already. And I mean... It kind of sucks but it's not nearly as awful as I feared it might look like.

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

#45
post #31
post #3

I'm so glad the end of Net Neutrality has ushered in an era of unprecedented competition in the broadband market. EDIT: Yes, this acquisition is of the content division of Time Warner, not the ISP, which was previously acquired — by another broadband provider , mooting my general point how, again?

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.

It has plenty to do with the broadband market, if you happen to be an AT&T subscriber, and especially if they're your only choice. This, coupled with their no longer being restrained from the kinds of shenanigans that NN barred, positions them to force preferential choices on their subscribers and wring more money out of them for the privilege of accessing competing services.

This is only good for people holding T and TWX, and probably not even most of them.

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

#47
post #24

This is a distribution company -- internet, cable TV, satellite -- acquiring a content company (the communications portion of Time Warner was spun off as Spectrum). Isn't this just a vertical integration?

Definitely. There are a lot of valid debates you can have about whether or not this is a good thing, but it's very arguably the 'correct' decision in the sense of precedent, and as you are implying, the less surprising one.

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

#48
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.

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

#49

In the context of net neutrality ending, this looks like AT&T acquiring the means to exploit discriminatory traffic routing. It seems like there will be a gold rush of sorts, towards building walled gardens, segmenting the Internet into fiefs. Does ending NN allow an ISP to completely block a website? I.e. to what extent does this also open up the door to overt political censorship?

Time Warner the ISP was bought years ago. This is Time Warner the entertainment company.

AT&T is an ISP. They also own DirecTV, and now CNN and associated media entities.

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

#50
post #38

This is nuts. This means there is now only one last-mile broadband provider in plenty of big markets. Milwaukee, for example, now no longer has any competition in the broadband space.

Despite the name, Time Warner doesn't own Time Warner Cable. They split years ago.
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