DOJ Economist Claims AT&T/Time Warner Merger Will Cost Customers up to $571M More Per Year

DooKey

DooKey

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Apr 25, 2001
Messages
12,890
The DOJ is currently supporting an antitrust lawsuit against the merger of AT&T/Time Warner and their economist has testified that the combined company would cost consumers up to $571M more per year for TV programming. I won't get into all of his analysis, but it does make sense. However, he is saying could/possible/plausibly a lot so I'm not sure whether or not his testimony will persuade the judge in the DOJ's favor. Anyway, I'm not pro or con merger, but this case is interesting and however it turns out is bound to upset many people. Thanks again, cagey.

Shapiro’s testimony serves as the linchpin of the government's case, because antitrust suits frequently turn on demonstrated impacts on consumer prices. Although economic testimony can be abstract and complex, Shapiro took pains to walk U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon through every step of his analysis.
 
Time Warner Inc is not Time Warner Cable. It was owned by Time Warner Inc at one time but TWC split off years ago. And you are correct the former Time Warner Cable was aquired by Charter.
 
virtualheretic said:
I didnt think TWC existed anymore as they merged with Charter and made Spectrum (my cable provider here in KC)?
Click to expand...
TWC is more regional than it was in the past but they are still around. I just find it crazy they are still trying these insanely large mergers.......its all going to be owned by one giant corp someday anyway.......the anti-trust in this country is a joke.
 
Yea... the merger of TWC with Charter into Spectrum has gone so well. My same Internet is now $15 more a month, seems legit that mergers help consumers... lol
 
Bigbacon said:
they will let it happen because "reasons"
Click to expand...
Because what could possibly go wrong? There have never, ever been any issues with AT&T getting too big in the past. Nope, not ever. Well except for that one time, but it was so long ago that no one even remembers it...
Something about failing to learn from history and all that.​
 
Galvin said:
Give it time we'll be there. Where everything is under 1 or 2 corps
Click to expand...

The Umbrella Corporation is one of the most powerful companies on Earth and was a huge organization that acted as the faceless villains of almost all Resident Evil games, it is so massive that it was termed as a mega-corporation: having subdivisions in almost every business imaginable and even having its own organized paramilitary force.
 
Oh it's for TV? Who gives a shit, I dropped cable years ago. Plus they are losing huge numbers of subscribers year over year, so they think merging and increasing prices using their stupid out-dated business model is going to improve that? LOL
 
Not sure you understand, these 2 companies own the rights to damn near all tv shows . If they combine they will jack up the prices to every piece of content they can. They own the shows so they get to charge any one that plays them whatever they want to be able to cary them. That means any one from cable companies, dish, Hulu and of the new streaming companies that let you stream some channels and that extra cost will be past onto us the consumer. We will be screwed.
 
SomeoneElse said:
TWC is more regional than it was in the past but they are still around. I just find it crazy they are still trying these insanely large mergers.......its all going to be owned by one giant corp someday anyway.......the anti-trust in this country is a joke.
Click to expand...
That's the point: consolidate all media and product distributions into one point, where they can control everything you see, hear, eat, drink, and read.

Cue brain rot in 3...2...1...
 
mynamehere said:
Because what could possibly go wrong? There have never, ever been any issues with AT&T getting too big in the past. Nope, not ever. Well except for that one time, but it was so long ago that no one even remembers it...
Something about failing to learn from history and all that.​
Click to expand...
Oh, they learned, all right: they learned how to hide the truth under so many layers of obfuscation that no one in this century without a Beowulf cluster will be able to unravel....
 
Biznatch said:
Oh it's for TV? Who gives a shit, I dropped cable years ago. Plus they are losing huge numbers of subscribers year over year, so they think merging and increasing prices using their stupid out-dated business model is going to improve that? LOL
Click to expand...
When they throttle the fuck out of your internet connection, lock you out of VPN access, and force you into their "preferred partner system", you won't have any choice anymore.
 
Biznatch said:
Oh it's for TV? Who gives a shit, I dropped cable years ago. Plus they are losing huge numbers of subscribers year over year, so they think merging and increasing prices using their stupid out-dated business model is going to improve that? LOL
Click to expand...

No, its not just for TV. Time Warner Inc owns WB.
 
Makeroflostsouls said:
Not sure you understand, these 2 companies own the rights to damn near all tv shows . If they combine they will jack up the prices to every piece of content they can. They own the shows so they get to charge any one that plays them whatever they want to be able to cary them. That means any one from cable companies, dish, Hulu and of the new streaming companies that let you stream some channels and that extra cost will be past onto us the consumer. We will be screwed.
Click to expand...

That's what eye patches, peg legs and parrots are for ;)
 
nutzo said:
That's what eye patches, peg legs and parrots are for ;)
Click to expand...
But if they own the actual net accesses and lock them down, the INternet itself will just become another high-bandwidth cable network with almost zero interactivity... which is EXACTLY what they ant, so they can make you PAY with the little bit of interactivity they deign to give you.
 
Big_Rig_Stig said:
When they throttle the fuck out of your internet connection, lock you out of VPN access, and force you into their "preferred partner system", you won't have any choice anymore.
Click to expand...


This has nothing to do with the ISP side of the business that was sold to spectrum. And if they took those steps, it would fuck over pretty much every other company, and the entire tech industry that requires VPN access to work (myself included).


Big_Rig_Stig said:
But if they own the actual net accesses and lock them down, the INternet itself will just become another high-bandwidth cable network with almost zero interactivity... which is EXACTLY what they ant, so they can make you PAY with the little bit of interactivity they deign to give you.
Click to expand...

Specturm owns the ISP portion now, not TW. They are separate companies.
 
Biznatch said:
This has nothing to do with the ISP side of the business that was sold to spectrum. And if they took those steps, it would fuck over pretty much every other company, and the entire tech industry that requires VPN access to work (myself included).




Specturm owns the ISP portion now, not TW. They are separate companies.
Click to expand...
You're still missing the point: even tho they're "separate" now, you don't think they're colluding? You don't think they'll engage in AT&T's "preferred lanes" options for the "preferred partners" that pay the most & pass the cost onto you?

THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE. It's may have been POTS/cable/satellite/long distance, but it has happened before, and we are allowing them to repeat the same crimes, and even enabling these crimes with the present administration.

Bottom line: you and your company, and the rest of us, will HAVE to cough up big bucks to stay connected. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to start charging by the minute.
 
Google and Facebook are much bigger concerns than AT&T and Time Warner. Most people in the world have fucking Android phones. They use Google for everything. They use YouTube for videos. If it's not Google, YouTube, or Facebook, a huge portion of the population doesn't get that information.

I know. I work with these fucking people every day. They think Facebook is the internet. They think doing a Google search and picking a result is how you go to a website. They don't know what a web browser or a URL is or what to do with them.

Google and Facebook have control over what these people see, read, and ultimately, what they think.
 
big_aug said:
Google and Facebook are much bigger concerns than AT&T and Time Warner. Most people in the world have fucking Android phones. They use Google for everything. They use YouTube for videos. If it's not Google, YouTube, or Facebook, a huge portion of the population doesn't get that information.

I know. I work with these fucking people every day. They think Facebook is the internet. They think doing a Google search and picking a result is how you go to a website. They don't know what a web browser or a URL is or what to do with them.

Google and Facebook have control over what these people see, read, and ultimately, what they think.
Click to expand...
Yes, they do; but can you imagine what havoc they, AT&T and the other megacorps could do together?

You thought 1984 was here now, it'll become far, far worse if that happens.
 
Didn't they already merge with spectrum.

Everyone I know in New York over night saw a 30% increase in their bills, throttled speeds. Based on this time warner was a good send compared to what spectrum provides.

Mergers are great..... Less competition higher prices. Exactly what we were promised.... Lol
 
Why does everyone keep thinking Time Warner is a cable company?

Time Warner aka Warner Brothers. The people that own DC comics, Loony Tunes, Netherrealm Studios (Mortal Kombat, Injustice), CNN, Turner Broadcasting (TBS, TNT, cartoon network, truTv,...), HBO, the site Rotten tomatoes and many other things.
 
Exavior said:
Why does everyone keep thinking Time Warner is a cable company?

Time Warner aka Warner Brothers. The people that own DC comics, Loony Tunes, Netherrealm Studios (Mortal Kombat, Injustice), CNN, Turner Broadcasting (TBS, TNT, cartoon network, truTv,...), HBO, the site Rotten tomatoes and many other things.
Click to expand...

I guess it's because some haven't been paying attention since TWC became its own, separate entity before being purchased (along with BrightHouse) by Charter?
 
JMccovery said:
I guess it's because some haven't been paying attention since TWC became its own, separate entity before being purchased (along with BrightHouse) by Charter?
Click to expand...

Even then, why keep thinking that Time Warner is and ever only was a cable provider? Does everyone else really not know that they the Warner in Time Warner was Warner Brothers at the very least?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top