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Hmm. FCC allows rules to let Sinclair Broadcasting expand to becoming a monopoly. OK! Net Neutrality? Possibly gone by next month. AT&T and Time Warner to merg
by swang 9y ago
Hmm. FCC allows rules to let Sinclair Broadcasting expand to becoming a monopoly. OK! Net Neutrality? Possibly gone by next month.
AT&T and Time Warner to merge together?: "It would mean higher monthly television bills and fewer of the new, emerging innovative options that consumers are beginning to enjoy."
Yes I know the FCC is not the DOJ, or the FTC. Just seems like Republican-led departments and commissions can't seem to get their story straight on whether mergers and fewer options are beneficial to customers or not.
I'm not for this merger. But certainly seems like Trump's interference in this is probably going to udnermine any semblance of partiality by the DOJ.
- acheron 9y agoWhile I hesitate to presume any logic on the part of government agencies, I don’t see a problem. I would assume the answer is that the specific facts of each individual case are considered, rather than applying a blanket “all mergers are bad/good”.
- aaronbrethorst 9y agoSounds right to me. Net Neutrality: impinges on profits of big telecoms. Sinclair: amazing opportunity to simultaneously reward a major republican donor and disseminate overtly biased, conservative talking points in millions of American homes. ATT: great opportunity to kneecap CNN, which the President hates.
- chmln 9y agoYou have a good point, but don't kid yourself with "overtly biased, conservative talking points". There is little to no truly balanced and fact-oriented media. Obviously, except for those perceived as such by their respective viewers on either side of the political spectrum.
- Skylled 9y agoI don't think he's exaggerating. Watch the segment that John Oliver did on Sinclair. The content of the "must run" pieces is definitely alarming.
- cuckmaster 9y agoAh yes John Oliver the bastion of unbiased journalism in current year.
- aaronbrethorst 9y agoSegment in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvtNyOzGogc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvtNyOzGogc
- threeseed 9y agoReally no fact orientated media ? BBC (UK), PBS (US), NPR (US), ABC (Australia) etc are surely examples.
- rayiner 9y agoThe FCC loosened media ownership rules (a complete ban on owning a newspaper and TV/radio station in the same market) that have no counterpart in most EU countries. The DOJ sued to block a merger that would get intense antitrust scrutiny in most EU countries. I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- swang 9y agoWhat does the EU have to do with this?
- alexeldeib 9y agoSeems intended to indicate a lack of influence from the Trump administration, and that this behavior is not unusual in other political bodies such as the EU.
- rayiner 9y agoComparison to the EU shows that this is not an incongruous combination of decisions, as OP implies.
- richardknop 9y agoIt shows that this is not a controversial decision at all and similar decision would be probably made in all western countries. Whether there is some Trump vendetta as driver for this decision is not very relevant if the decision is correct.
- colde 9y agoBut that is completely negating that the media markets in EU and the US are completely different. For instance, a number of european countries have a strong public broadcaster to provide a neutral source of news. PBS or NPR aren't really comparable in most cases. And in many cases, local stations aren't owned by a corporate entity, completely making such rules irrelevant.
- blazespin 9y ago218B + 62B market caps of two massive media conglomerates. The merger is bad news. It's just a recipe for monoculture.
- libertyEQ 9y agoAT&T does not have any content prior to this deal, which is why it is called a vertical merger. They are simply not competing in any business. It is quite similar to Comcast buying NBC/Universal.
- bound008 9y agoJust wanted to point out that this does not include Time Warner Cable which was already acquired by Spectrum. (And yes, that merger made bills go up. Even the customer service reps admit it)
- libertyEQ 9y agoSpectrum is a product of the Charter Communications company[0]. Further, it is very rare (possible non-existent) for 2 cable companies to operate in the same market. Time Warner Cable and Charter did not compete in any market, as far as I know, so it is unclear how their merger would create less competition when the cable industry mostly operates as a monopoly in any given market in the first place. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_Communications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_Communications
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]