This would be an FTC thing. The FCC has no say in this particular type of transaction.
AT&T isn't buying a cable company, their buying a media company.
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AT&T in 'Advanced Talks' to Acquire CNN and HBO Parent Company Time Warner [Updated]
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AT&T isn't buying a cable company, their buying a media company.
The WSJ is now reporting that Apple also approached Time Warner and is "monitoring" the developments. Is there a bidding war in the works?
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Time Warner Cable is a different company that just licenses the name.
LOL, the dropped satellite feed is most likely "an act of god."
So, perhaps it's the deity's way of blessing the U.S.A. (as you state in your signature), by interrupting the satellite feed during the congressman's rant...?
Who are we to argue with "god's will?"
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The DOJ will almost certainly require AT&T to distribute HBO Now. Here's the press release from the Comcast/NBCU approval. The specifics are a bit different, but gatekeepers concerns are something the DOJ monitors.
I think the most likely outcome of a buy out would be that Time Warner's programming goes to hell and AT&T looses billions. The content market is moving in a direction that favors hit series so the network is only as good as the creative talent behind them. I wouldn't be surprised if the most successful show a year from now comes from a network no one cares about today. Regarding news programming, i'm sick of CNN's and others lack of depth. We don't have time for it. As gen x-ers and millennials age the appetite for that sort of reporting will diminish. And for sports, i wouldn't be surprised if the overall fan base diminishes in the coming decades. Millennial are a "me" generation and following sports is a hobby people have less and less time to devote themselves to due to competition from other forms of entertainment social media and general "screen time".
On the side note...
Since they bought DirecTV, they have essentially stopped selling or promoting their own Uverse TV which I used to like a lot!
Good. Maybe someone at AT&T will decide to fix CNN and hand it over to Dan Carlin after all.
...Dan Carlin, the journalist and Hardcore History podcaster, who has more listeners than CNN has viewers even at peak hours, & knows how to make news engaging and interesting. ...& its not by giving a room full of graphic artists speed.
...Dan Carlin, the journalist and Hardcore History podcaster, who has more listeners than CNN has viewers even at peak hours, & knows how to make news engaging and interesting. ...& its not by giving a room full of graphic artists speed.
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Heh, I don't think there is anybody left to boycott CNN. Nobody watches it anymore.
Small businesses get hurt badly. A business of 10 people and 50,000 are not the same thing.
It doesn't make it right...
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And for many people, they (AT&T) ARE the internet, I see a rather bizarre dystopian future of the Internet. One with your ISP actively snooping, looking for 'stolen' works (their own recently purchased works). The MPAA and RIAA were caught rifling through peoples computers remotely from the internet. I see more fat, well paid politicians, and more nefarious snooping rights given to these *******s...
Wired came out with a prophesy of increasing snooping, invasive scanning, and increased charges and prosecutions for We The People.
Need I remind people that the 'shrink wrapped DVD's', and the crazy idea of having players 'brand' media once played were concoctions of 'smart people' trying to insure more cash to the 'suffering' big labels and 'content creators'?
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Keep them apart PLEEEASE!!
I don't feel like paying their 15% less in taxes. Oh, sorry that has nothing to do with the former but it's on my mind.
I don't feel like paying their 15% less in taxes. Oh, sorry that has nothing to do with the former but it's on my mind.
Yes. It will be called the United States Government.
There is no difference between big government and big business. The people running big business buy the politicians through campaign contributions. The politicians then pass laws that favor big business which makes more money to buy off the politicians.
That's well, a bit unfair. Current market regulations are hurting people and small businesses. Who loves them? Comcast, Time Warner, Walmart, any big business essentially. Those people that do lose are the consumer and the small business person. It's not that regulations in and of themselves are bad (there should be regulations -- to prevent the existence of duopolies, monopolies, oligopolies, collusion, lobbying and to promote consumer protections), but who's doing writing and passing the legislation. It's certainly no one that cares about small business or the consumer.
Considering these companies lobby congress (to the tune of millions to both party candidates) to pass these regulations in the first place, I'd say yes, these regulations are stifling business. Check out the relentless pursuit Time-Warner/Comcast/AT&T has orchestrated against municipal internet providers and small providers. Using state and federal regulations they lobbied congress to pass regulations to prevent competition. Nowadays, any candidate that threatens monopoly busting is either a loon or a socialist. AT&T has been broken up before, it can (and should) be broken up again along with Comcast and the like.
Why? It seems harmless. Maybe bad for AT&T shareholders, but that's not our problem.
It's bad for consumers. AT&T is a broadband provider, which means they're a gateway to the internet. Getting their hands on a media creation/content company puts them in the position of being able to make their content proprietary. When Time Warner owns HBO it's in their best interest to get it on as many different platforms as possible. If AT&T owns it they want to make it as exclusive as possible, so that they can control both the content and its delivery.
I can't believe that stuff like this doesn't scare the hell out of people.