back to article Democrats (still a thing, apparently) are super unhappy about AT&T's Time-Warner merger

Democrats in US Congress oppose AT&T's acquisition of Time-Warner and any other proposed big-time telco gobbles. In a policy outline [PDF] posted Monday, titled A Better Deal, the party says it stands in opposition to this and other mergers that will reduce competition among cable providers and cut off Americans from a choice …

  1. Youngone Silver badge

    Oppostion Opposing

    The Democrat's opposition to telco mergers will evaporate when they hold the whip hand, as the "campaign contributions" flow in.

    The US Government is up for sale every year, who gets paid and by whom is the only variable.

  2. DCFusor
    Thumb Up

    Oh goody

    Maybe it'll happen then - the merger should most definitely be blocked (my "conservative" acquaintances all agree)..

    Trump wanted to punish them for CNN fake news/witch hunt anyway, but due to the political climate, couldn't touch this with a 10 meter pole...now he can...(Ajit is another matter entirely, and...we can only hope he doesn't do well).

  3. MNGrrrl
    Thumb Down

    This is why they fail

    It'll never float; if they were serious about endorsing free market values they'd chop municipal exclusivity agreements and mandate that telecommunications infrastructure providers (ie, cables and bandwidth) must be operated as a legally distinct entity from internet service providers. In other words, anyone can purchase bandwidth and make internet service available on the wires; And such contracts should be time limited. Turn the bandwidth available into a free marketplace, and then leave those with the infrastructure the avenue for profit being building more damned infrastructure.

    1. DCFusor

      Re: This is why they fail

      Hey, everyone except the bribe-takers on both sides of the aisle knows they don't give a fig about the free market...it's been that way all of my long life,

      All laws passed are to help the big boys and prevent little disrupters from getting anywhere. All.

      For once, we have some visibility and agreement that this is a bridge too far and just shouldn't happen.

      Cherish it - in my 63 years of watching power concentrate and freedom erode - this isn't a common thing.

    2. BillG
      Megaphone

      Re: This is why they fail

      Other industries the party wants to break up include breweries (they note just five companies make half of the world's beer), eyeglass vendors, and the always-popular airlines racket.

      They do this all the time. The Dems have never, ever stopped significant mergers or broken up any industries (AT&T not withstanding). BTW they made a killing in donations from Microsoft by threatening to break them up.

      Campaign donations are way down, so this is an attempt to grab money. When the Dems are unsuccessful (and they always are), they'll blame the other party.

      This is Campaign Finance 101. Nothing to see here, move along, move along.

  4. Ivan Vorpatril
    Facepalm

    Eyeglass vendors?

    "Other industries the party wants to break up include breweries (they note just five companies make half of the world's beer), eyeglass vendors, and the always-popular airlines racket."

    I guess banks still aren't too big to fail.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Eyeglass vendors?

      It's just because Ray-Ban and Oakley went into Italian hands... because US looks interested in less and less industries. Nor they had issues when Obama favored the Chrysler-Fiat deal, or the Googlepoly...

      Anyway, it's far easier to make popular proposal (but far less megacorps friendly) when you have no chance to have them approved, so your nearest lobbyist won't complain too much, and will still sign the cheques...

  5. fishman

    "Additionally, the transaction is already on the fast track to approval, thanks to a work-around that keeps it out of US broadband watchdog the FCC's jurisdiction."

    The head of the FCC, Pai, is the industries lapdog.

  6. bombastic bob Silver badge
    Trollface

    it would be funny if...

    it would be funny if, after some AT&T + Time Warner merger, that stations like CNN and MSNBC went away in the basic cable lineup...

    [because, lousy ratings]

    but most likely they'd just add another $20 to my monthly bill within a year or two, for some made-up B.S. excuse of a reason.

    1. Lost In Clouds of Data
      Thumb Down

      Re: it would be funny if...

      The same MSNBC that just last week took the #1 spot from Fox News?

      The biggest chunk of the average cable bill isn't the news channels - it's sports such as ESPN and Fox Sports which all together kick upwards of $18 to $25 per month to your bill depending on your market (source: SNL Kagen).

      The same research showed that just ESPN alone averaged out at $5.54 per subscriber, whilst CNN was a paltry $0.60 with MSNBC at just half of that.

      Fox news however recently stated their desire to hit a buck 50 within a few years. And you picking on two of the lowest cost cable news stations, ignoring the most expensive cable news channel (which is now nigh on a dollar per month per subscriber) makes me wonder if you have a political ax to grind here.

      1. larzman

        Re: it would be funny if...

        Since when is MSNBC #1 in cable news? Please cite a source, as Fox News is far and away the leader in cable news. Maybe you mean MSNBC is #1 in Fake News, surprised they are above CNN in that category.

        1. Lost In Clouds of Data
          FAIL

          Re: it would be funny if...

          http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/msnbc-fox-news-ratings-cable-news-cnn-1202440320/amp/

          https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/business/media/msnbc-rachel-maddow-andrew-lack-ratings.amp.html

          http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/may-2017-ratings-for-first-time-since-2000-msnbc-beat-fox-news-cnn-on-weeknights/330611

          Did you bother to even Google MSNBC #1 before posting?

          1. BrianW

            Re: it would be funny if...

            Technically MSNBC did win the ratings for last week but you're missing the steady decline of overall viewers. 2.4 million daily viewers is now considered a home run when not too long ago such a number would get a show cancelled immediately. Their 2.4 mill is for the entire day. I saw a statistic somewhere that Channel 4 - once the hip channel in England - now has an average viewer age of 55. BBC1's average veiwer age is 61! Television is dead. People growing up now will never watch TV the way previous generations have.

            1. Lost In Clouds of Data
              WTF?

              Re: it would be funny if...

              Not really relevant. #1 is #1. If they're #1 then it shows that Fox News are also suffering from the same lack of viewers.

              That said, #1 is #1 no matter which way you want to spin it.

              1. BrianW

                Re: it would be funny if...

                They're all losing viewers. My point is no one really watches cable news any more, and even fewer believe what they see. #1 is meaningless. It's like arguing that your horse buggy is #1.

      2. BillG
        IT Angle

        Re: it would be funny if...

        Lost in Clouds of Data wrote: The same MSNBC that just last week took the #1 spot from Fox News?

        http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/category/ratings

        This is the best ORIGINAL source for cable ratings. You can play specsmanship games all you want, but Fox News consistently remains #1 in total weekly viewers.

        DSTM

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Time-Warner is still a thing????

    Who knew...

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Democrats really want to do something. Yeah Right.

    During the first two year of the Obama Administration they owned both the House and the Senate. They could have passed any bill they wanted. I still have idiots tell me the GOP was blocking them but the GOP didn't have the votes to block anything.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The Democrats really want to do something. Yeah Right.

      You do realize the dem super majority for two years is a myth right?

      Between Frankins recount and Kennedy's brain tumor which led to his death there was less than a month of actual working days where the Senate was filibuster proof, and that is if the Independents stayed with the dems on the issue at hand.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The Democrats really want to do something. Yeah Right.

        You do realize that they could have changed the filibuster rules if they had wanted to. The GOP did that to get their nominee on the Supreme Court.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They embarrassed themselves running Hillary.

    They embarrassed themselves screwing Bernie.

    They embarrassed themselves killing Seth Rich.

    They embarrassed themselves with the Russia Diversion.

    They embarrassed themselves with the ANTIFA and the Muslim Brotherhood.

    They embarrassed themselves letting the likes of Pelosi, Schumer and Waters be the face of the Party.

    They embarrassed themselves with idiots like Comey, Lynch, Muller and Obama

    They will embarrass themselves tomorrow with some other petulant tantrum. You can count on it.

    They are too brain dead to have any shame.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You do realize Comey was a registered republican for years. Just because he was more patriotic than his boss should be no reason to call him a democrat.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You lost ALL credibility when...

      You posted "They embarrassed themselves killing Seth Rich."

      Talk about fake news - that was something that the right wing rumor mill ran with until it became obvious to anyone with more than three brain cells to call friends, that the story was bogus.

      Yet you continued to post it.

      Admit it, your post was nothing about balanced politics or truth and everything about total and utter hatred for the DNC.

      And you called the other person 'brain dead'. Wow...

    3. Keven E

      Divert this

      https://newrepublic.com/article/143586/trumps-russian-laundromat-trump-tower-luxury-high-rises-dirty-money-international-crime-syndicate

  10. Daniel M

    Time Warner is Not a "Telco"

    Once again: Time Warner Cable was spun off from Time Warner a decade ago. Along with Charter, Time Warner Cable is now "Spectrum," which offers telephone, cable, and Internet services directly competitive to AT&T.

    Time Warner, on the other hand, is a content company.

    This has nothing to do with two companies in the same sector. If anything, it would be very similar to the old AOL Time Warner conglomerate.

    But who cares about facts, right?

    1. John 104

      Re: Time Warner is Not a "Telco"

      @Daniel M

      Which is why the FCC isn't involved.

      Didn't AT&T try this years ago and got told no way by the FCC?

  11. chivo243 Silver badge
    Meh

    End around

    Actually the politicians who have proposed this aren't getting "greased" enough, that is why they are proposing this kind of legislature. They make a good show (read big deal) now, and the lobbyists will be at their door painting their street gold in no time.

    It's the old game of "dat's a nice thing you got going there.... would be a shame if something should happen to it..."

    1. BillG
      Meh

      Re: End around

      @chivo243 wrote: Actually the politicians who have proposed this aren't getting "greased" enough, that is why they are proposing this kind of legislature. They make a good show (read big deal) now, and the lobbyists will be at their door painting their street gold in no time.

      It's the old game of "dat's a nice thing you got going there.... would be a shame if something should happen to it..."

      Couldn't have said it better myself.

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