After AT&T Jacks Up Prices Post Merger, DOJ Decides To Appeal Court Loss

After AT&T Jacks Up Prices Post Merger, DOJ Decides To Appeal Court Loss

5 years ago
Anonymous $TjsaxHwAP-

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180713/07485040234/after-att-jacks-up-prices-post-merger-doj-decides-to-appeal-court-loss.shtml

AT&T recently defeated the DOJ's challenge to their $86 billion merger with Time Warner thanks to a comically narrow reading of the markets by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon. At no point in his 172-page ruling (which approved the deal without a single condition) did Leon show the faintest understanding that AT&T intends to use vertical integration synergistically with the death of net neutrality to dominate smaller competitors. In fact, net neutrality was never even mentioned at the multi-week trial.

The trial did a wonderful job showing how modern antitrust law does a dismal job policing companies that dominate both the conduit to the home (wireless, wired connection) and the content running over it. And shortly after Leon signed off on the deal, AT&T got right work... being AT&T.