Washington DC (WBAP/KLIF News) – Executives from AT&T and Time Warner testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday on the proposed $85 billion merger. The Justice Department is considering whether to allow the two companies to merge.
“There are enormous incentives to favor yourself and harm competitors, block competitors and raise costs to rivals,” says Gene Kimmelman, the chief executive at the advocacy group, Public Knowledge.
Kimmelman had previously argued against AT&T’s purchase of T-Mobile, which was blocked by the Justice Department in 2011. The merger with Time Warner, he says, would give AT&T too much market power.
“This is not just about money, it is the diversity of programming owned by different people over different platforms that fuels our democracy,” he says.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson says the company has already spent more than any other to improve its distribution network and infrastructure.
“You should expect that continue,” he says. “We’ll encourage and support independent journalism. We will not withhold content to disadvantage someone else.”
Kimmelman says the Justice Department should block this merger unless AT&T and Time Warner can show that it would benefit customers and not diminish competition.
Mark Cuban also testified before the committee. Cuban is the chairman of AXS TV and says larger carriers have fallen behind companies like Amazon, Apple and Microsoft as they have grown into the marketplace.
“Alone, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for either to compete with any of the companies I’ve mentioned,” Cuban says.
The Department of Justice will ultimately decide whether to allow the merger.
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