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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09 2016, @04:08AM
They don't donate for quid pro quo because not only is that explicitly illegal
Oh, please. While they're not foolish enough to explicitly say they want quid pro quo, that is an implicit reason for their actions, and the politicians understand this well. Don't pretend that the politicians are just some clueless, helpless saps being taken advantage of.