Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Consumer groups join conservatives against AT&T deal for Time Warner

Published 10/26/2017, 08:15 AM
Updated 10/26/2017, 08:15 AM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: People walk past the AT&T store in New York's Times Square in New York

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: People walk past the AT&T store in New York's Times Square in New York

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seven groups ranging from the Tea Party Patriots to liberal consumer groups warned against AT&T's (N:T) plan to buy Time Warner (N:TWX) in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying the deal could give one company too much power over what Americans see on television.

The letter is signed by officials from the more liberal Public Knowledge and Consumer Federation of America as well as Tea Party Patriots and American Family Association, which opposes homosexuality.

"While the undersigned groups’ opinions diverge significantly on many policy issues, we are united in our desire to ensure that free expression is not threatened by an increasingly limited number of companies that dominate U.S. media," the groups said in the letter.

AT&T, the No. 2 wireless carrier which already owns satellite television service DirecTV, is in the process of buying Time Warner Inc for $85.4 billion in an effort to turn itself into a media powerhouse that can bundle mobile service with video. It has said it expects the deal to close by the end of the year.

Owning DirecTV makes AT&T the top pay-TV firm. Combining that clout with Time Warner, which owns HBO, CNN and the movie studio Warner Brothers, would make AT&T even more powerful, the seven groups warned.

The groups expressed concern in particular that AT&T could create incentives for its customers to only watch its shows by not counting AT&T content against data caps. Or, the groups said, AT&T could relegate channels it does not own to undesirable channel locations.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: People walk past the AT&T store in New York's Times Square in New York

Signatories also include officials from Americans for Limited Government, Frontiers of Freedom and Writers Guild of America West.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.