Today, the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice filed this complaint to stop the merger of AT&T and Time Warner. The following statement should be attributed to Gigi Sohn:
The Justice Department, led by Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Makan Delrahim, should be applauded for filing a complaint to block the merger of AT&T and Time Warner. This merger would create a colossus that would combine video, wireless and internet distribution with must see TV networks and a movie studio.
As DoJ notes, this merger would harm competing subscription video distributors, new and existing online video competitors and most of all, consumers. It matters not that this proposed merger is “vertical.” What matters is its effect on competition and consumers, and as DoJ rightly notes, that effect is harmful, illegal and must be stopped.