AT&T Defeats DOJ In Merger Fight, Opening The Door To Some Major Competitive Headaches

Legal Issues

from the what-could-possibly-go-wrong dept

AT&T has defeated the DOJ in a court battle over whether or not the company will be allowed to acquire Time Warner for $86 billion.

In a ruling (pdf), U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon stated that the government failed to make its case that the merger would harm AT&T’s competitors, most of which are now trying to keep pace in the streaming video space. Consumer advocates have routinely warned that AT&T will use its greater leverage to make must-have content (like Time Warner owned CNN or HBO) significantly more costly for companies hoping to compete with AT&T’s own TV services, including its newish streaming video effort, DirecTV Now.

That a company with a thirty-year history of anti-competitive behavior will likely use this greater leverage to behave badly shouldn’t have been a particularly hard case to make, suggesting that DOJ lawyers may have flubbed key components of its case. The DOJ sued to thwart the deal last November, and while the agency claimed it was to protect consumers, the incongruity with other Trump administration consumer policies (like, well, everything) have fueled speculation that Trump’s disdain for Time Warner owned CNN, or his close relationship with Rupert Murdoch may have colored the DOJ’s decision to sue.

It’s an indisputable and massive win for AT&T, and the DOJ’s first antitrust court loss since 2004. Leon didn’t just kill the lawsuit, he didn’t offer any conditions to mitigate potential anti-competitive problems, and largely urged the DOJ not to appeal. AT&T, as you might expect, was thrilled with the court’s failure to block its latest megamerger:

“We are pleased that, after conducting a full and fair trial on the merits, the Court has categorically rejected the government?s lawsuit to block our merger with Time Warner. We thank the Court for its thorough and timely examination of the evidence, and we compliment our colleagues at the Department of Justice on their dedicated representation of the government. We look forward to closing the merger on or before June 20 so we can begin to give consumers video entertainment that is more affordable, mobile, and innovative.”

Anybody that has witnessed AT&T’s versions of “affordable” and “innovative” likely isn’t to buy that claim. This is, after all, a company that thought it would be a good idea to charge consumers more money just to protect their own privacy. It’s also the same company that has been repeatedly dinged by government for either ripping off its own customers, or turning a blind eye while all manner of others did. Not surprisingly, more consumer-oriented folks like former FCC staffer and consumer advocate Gigi Sohn had a decidedly different take on AT&T’s court win:

“Big media conglomerates are the winners and consumers are the losers with Judge Leon?s decision. Merging AT&T, one of the largest cable, satellite and mobile broadband companies with Time Warner will lead to higher prices, fewer choices and perhaps more importantly, fewer voices. Coupled with the demise of the 2015 net neutrality rules yesterday, AT&T will be free to favor Time Warner content over its cable and its fixed and mobile broadband networks.”

Numerous companies were waiting on the AT&T decision before pursuing their own, previously-unthinkable merger ambitions. Comcast, for example, has stated the company was holding off on making its $60 billion offer for Fox’s remaining assets until it saw the outcome of the case. Sprint and T-Mobile are also considering a merger that’s likely to reduce competition in wireless and kill tends of thousands of sector jobs.

It’s not just the AT&T merger that’s problematic. The wave of major consolidation this loss will trigger, combined with the death of net neutrality protections opens the door to an absolute ocean of bad behavior by companies that have already clearly documented they’ll stop at nothing to keep real competition at bay. And while the rise of streaming competitors crafting original content may mitigate some of this, you’d have to be pretty naive to think AT&T’s stranglehold over broadband and media, combined with Trump era regulatory capture ends particularly well for the consumers and small businesses caught in its wake.

Filed Under: antitrust, competition, consolidation, doj, merger, richard leon
Companies: at&t, time warner