Donald Trump Says He Would Block AT&T-Time Warner Merger as President

[ABX]

But he is 'our dictator', right?

Donald Trump expressed he would not approve the AT&T and Time Warner merger if elected president. "Deals like this destroy democracy, said Trump during a rally in Gettysburg, PA on Saturday where he discussed what he would do in the first 100 days of his presidency......

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/donald-trump-says-he-would-940677

[geronl]

I thought Time Warner was merging with Charter or Comcrap or something, or is that just the internet side

[geronl]

But he is 'our dictator', right?

He thinks the President is involved in that, lol

[ABX]

I thought Time Warner was merging with Charter or Comcrap or something, or is that just the internet side

Comcast tried to buy them a few years ago but it was blocked due to antitrust issues being the same type of business and eliminating market competition.

That argument really can't be made with the AT&T purchase because they are different types of businesses and won't block out competition in the same market. AT&T owns Direct TV but that technically isn't a direct restricted market competitor (kind of complicated to go into here).

The government would also have a hard time justifying this after they did green light Verizon's purchase of AOL and it looks like they won't run into regulatory trouble with the Yahoo purchase either.

Both AT&T and Verizon are transforming their companies to be full service technology companies, not bound to a single delivery mode. (copper, wireless, IOT, etc).

[American Faith Today]

Sorry Donald, that wouldn't be your job or within your Constitutional powers.

Even though when you called Sean Hannity he probably told you that it was.

[American Faith Today]

The thing about all of this too is while it may in fact create a monopoly in cable television (or make it ever closer to one), and while those aren't supposed to exist, people today do have options through various services that allow one to totally do away with cable tv altogether if they wish.

Most people don't, or haven't at this time.  Including me.

But it's out there.

[sinkspur]

Trump would be the most anti-business president in our lifetimes.  He would use the Justice Department as a cudgel and inject himself into every merger, something that is not the purview of the president.

I hope the Trumpkins realize what a danger to the economy Trump actually is.  His threat to scrap NAFTA would destroy thousands of businesses in the US and cost thousands of jobs.

Thankfully, a Trump administration continues to look less and less likely.

[txradioguy]

The only place they compete directly is in the internet portion of the business.

I looked at ATT when we were getting our stuff set up here at Ft. Knox.

The only reason I ended up going with Time Warner over ATT was because of internet speeds.  I'm running 100mbs cable and the fastest ATT could offer me was 18mbs DSL.

[American Faith Today]

They do compete at least in some places in cable television.

When I lost a job with a company I'd worked with for 12 years, I bounced around a bit afterward.  One of the jobs I did for a while was door to door selling and offering of AT&T U-verse, which is their cable television platform.  They also did the dreaded bundle, and wanted us to offer it at least as an option- tv, phone, and internet.

I know they don't reach everywhere.  For instance, though I haven't checked in a long while, I can get AT&T "U-verse" internet, but not the cable tv.

If I'm not mistaken they bought in to one of the satellite dish companies as well.  Either DirecTv or Dish Tv.

[GtHawk]

They do compete at least in some places in cable television.

When I lost a job with a company I'd worked with for 12 years, I bounced around a bit afterward.  One of the jobs I did for a while was door to door selling and offering of AT&T U-verse, which is their cable television platform.  They also did the dreaded bundle, and wanted us to offer it at least as an option- tv, phone, and internet.

I know they don't reach everywhere.  For instance, though I haven't checked in a long while, I can get AT&T "U-verse" internet, but not the cable tv.

If I'm not mistaken they bought in to one of the satellite dish companies as well.  Either DirecTv or Dish Tv.

AT&T owns Direct TV so they directly compete with cable for content but has been selling off it's internet business to Frontier , Charter just bought TWC and became Spectrum, at least in California.

[corbe]

The only thing good to come out of this is the customer service will improve to a Malaysian level over the current India phone support.  I'm tired of winning already.

[Machiavelli]

I thought Time Warner was merging with Charter or Comcrap or something, or is that just the internet side

Time Warner Cable split off from Time Warner in 2009 to become a separate company. It was acquired by Charter Communications in May of this year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner_Cable

[American Faith Today]

AT&T owns Direct TV so they directly compete with cable for content but has been selling off it's internet business to Frontier , Charter just bought TWC and became Spectrum, at least in California.

I think that's the case here in Ohio too.  Although my bill still says Time Warner on it.

[Machiavelli]

I think that's the case here in Ohio too.  Although my bill still says Time Warner on it.

Please see my post right above yours.

My bill still shows TWC too. It will take a while before it completely switches over.

[geronl]

AT&T owns Direct TV so they directly compete with cable for content but has been selling off it's internet business to Frontier , Charter just bought TWC and became Spectrum, at least in California.

@Machiavelli @GtHawk  Yes, TWC is becoming Spectrum here too

[Axel]

AT&T and Time Warner merger would leave one service provider in my area.

Might be time to move on to the library and coffee shops.