WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is facing off against AT&T to block the telephone giant from absorbing Time Warner, in a case that could shape how consumers get — and how much they pay for — streaming TV and movies.
Opening arguments come Thursday in the landmark antitrust case in federal court in Washington. The Justice Department has sued to block the $85 billion deal, saying it would hurt competition and consumers would have to pay more to watch their favorite shows, whether on a TV screen, smartphone or tablet.
AT&T insists the merger is needed to compete in a rapidly shifting marketplace as more people use streaming services like Netflix, Amazon and others. It denies the government’s assertion that the merger would limit choice and push up prices.
If it wouldn’t make them more money ( make you pay more ) they wouldn’t do it. I’m no businessman but Biz 101, chapter 1 aint that hard. Trump’s showing his ass here. He let his goofy FCC guy ax net neutrally which is a close concept to that ATT is pursuing here. But nope…that CNN thing.
And yet, neither Netflix nor Amazon needed to combine a big studio’s library of content with ownership of the data networks in order to compete.