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from the almost-time-for-another-antitrust-breakup dept.
AT&T and Time Warner were called before Congress today to defend their upcoming $85 billion merger and they played all of the antitrust bingo words in the book. We heard a lot about "investment," "competition," and "innovation" in the two-hour session — but no reasons to believe that this merger is a necessary path to producing any of those things. And bizarrely, AT&T and Time Warner seem to have unwittingly argued against their need to merge.
The testimony was an unexpected vote for the value of an open internet and higher-quality services from ISPs across the board. Their arguments hinged on the idea that offering more innovative services over the internet is a way to better compete with cable companies. But that has nothing to do with a content company becoming part of the network company, and everything to do with the fundamental nature of the internet as an open platform.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/7/13874118/att-time-warner-merger
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 08 2016, @05:56PM
Sure, there are a ton of other ways to push congress around.
But you cited campaign donations as proof that the fix was in.