Comcast has been justifiably criticized for blatantly trying to curry favor with the FCC by trying to spend $110,000 to sponsor a fundraiser honoring FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, but while the Kabletown Krew shrugged off those allegations, Comcast EVP David “The Merger Whisperer” Cohen was meeting with the FCC to push the company’s slate of semi-truths about its pending acquisition of Time Warner Cable. [More]
murders and executions
Sprint Gives Up Dream Of Wedded Bliss With T-Mobile, Gives CEO Dan Hesse The Boot
By 8.6.14
Ever since Japan-based SoftBank took control of Sprint, the company has been standing outside of T-Mobile’s window with a boom box held over its head, trying to woo the magenta-hued wireless company by claiming that the only way they could both survive is if they were together forever as one. But that all came to an end yesterday, when Sprint’s arms got sore, as the company decided to pack up its boom box and went home alone. [More]
French Company Iliad Wants To Enter U.S. Market With $15B Offer For T-Mobile
By 7.31.14
Three years after T-Mobile USA’s parent company Deutsch Telekom failed to make a lasting match between its magenta-hued wireless provider and AT&T, it’s now receiving requests for T-Mobile’s hand from suitors closer to home, as French communications company Iliad has offered up a meager $15 billion for the company. [More]
Dish Asks FCC To Block Comcast/Time Warner Cable Merger
By 7.9.14
If you could be any player in the pay-TV industry these days, you probably wouldn’t choose to be Dish Network. It’s being sued by broadcasters for its DVR; its one competitor in the satellite market is trying to merge with AT&T, which puts Dish’s future in doubt. So it’s little surprise that Dish isn’t thrilled about the potential marriage of Comcast and Time Warner Cable. [More]
AT&T Says DirecTV Merger Will Save Money, But Not For Customers
By 6.25.14
While the folks at AT&T and DirecTV try to claim that their proposed merger is different from the pending marriage of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, both deals have one bit of double-talk in common, with the companies all saying their respective deals will help them be more efficient and save money while no one is willing to commit to passing those savings on to customers. [More]
AT&T/DirecTV File Merger Docs With FCC, Argue They Need To Merge To Compete Against Comcast
By 6.12.14
The busy summer telecom merger season continues apace. Late yesterday, AT&T filed its paperwork with the FCC, officially kicking off the regulatory process that the company needs to get through in order to buy DirecTV and allow the two to live happily ever after. [More]
AT&T Wants To Bring NFL Sunday Ticket To Its Wireless Customers
By 6.9.14
As we mentioned a few weeks ago, DirecTV’s exclusive NFL Sunday Ticket package is so vital to the satellite service’s business that AT&T can walk away from the two companies’ pending $49 billion merger if DirecTV and the NFL are unable to renew their contract. Now AT&T is trying to convince investors that Sunday Ticket could be a boon to its wireless business. [More]
FCC Could Use Mergers To Force Net Neutrality, But Shouldn’t
By 5.23.14
It’s a big year for the FCC. It’s got two huge mergers to review — Comcast/Time Warner Cable, AT&T/DirecTV — while also trying to reinstate the recently gutted net neutrality laws without ticking off the entire Internet. These related issues put the FCC in a position to force some cable operators to accept stricter net neutrality, but that’s really just kicking the can down the road. [More]
6 Things Consumers Can Expect If AT&T and DirecTV Merge
By 5.21.14
2014 is apparently the year of the TV merger. Over the weekend AT&T and DirecTV announced their plans to join in corporate marriage. So if a phone giant buys a satellite giant, what’s the end result for consumers? [More]
AT&T Can Walk Away From DirecTV Deal If NFL Sunday Ticket Not Renewed
By 5.20.14
Over the weekend, AT&T and DirecTV announced a huge $49 billion merger deal to make the nation’s largest satellite provider even larger and bolster the second-largest wireless provider’s efforts to compete with Verizon. But this merger could all fall to pieces if DirecTV doesn’t renew its exclusive deal with the NFL. [More]
Groups Protest Time Warner Cable Merger Outside Comcast Meeting
By 5.20.14
On Thursday, Comcast’s investors will be meeting here in Philadelphia, but they’ll be doing so over the din of protestors from numerous local and national organizations who are coming out to oppose the cable company’s planned merger with Time Warner Cable. [More]
AT&T Makes Deal To Acquire DirecTV, Bring Satellite Service To Death Star
By 5.18.14
After weeks of being spotted together walking hand in hand in the park (under the mindful eyes of their banker chaperones), AT&T and DirecTV have officially announced they want to spend the rest of their lives in wedded bliss. Of course, since happiness isn’t always free, said bliss involves AT&T paying $49 billion in stock and cash. [More]
AT&T & DirecTV Reportedly Near $50 Billion Deal To Put Satellite On Death Star
By 5.12.14
Spring is in the air, and the rumors of a blossoming romance between AT&T and DirecTV are heating up. The latest gossip from those always dependable “sources close to the situation” is that the nation’s #2 wireless provider and its #1 satellite TV service are haggling over the details of a deal worth $50 billion. [More]
AT&T And DirecTV Meeting Up For Coffee To See If There Is A Merger Spark There
By 5.8.14
After liking each other’s profile photos on OKtelecupid.com, a corporate dating site we just made up, AT&T and DirecTV are taking the all-important next step of meeting up for coffee and chat (along with regular bathroom breaks to text their bankers with updates) to see if wedded bliss is in their future. [More]
Media Companies’ Silence On Comcast/Time Warner Cable Merger Speaks Volumes
By 5.2.14
While numerous advocacy and public interest groups have publicly come out to declare their opposition to the merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, those companies whose business will most directly be affected by the tie-up — broadcasters, streaming services, production studios, advertisers — have remained relatively silent. But it’s not because they don’t have an opinion on the matter. [More]
AT&T Reportedly Interested In Wooing DirecTV, Completing Death Star
By 5.1.14
While the pending marriage of Comcast and Time Warner Cable has had people thinking about DirecTV and Dish giving wedded bliss another try, a new report says a different suitor has DirecTV in its lustful gaze: AT&T. [More]
Internal Comcast Memo Says Consumerist Is All About “Headlines,” So Here’s One For Them
By 4.30.14
Earlier this month, Consumerist readers voted to hand Comcast its second Worst Company In America title, the results undoubtedly tied to the cable company’s ill-advised decision to acquire equally cruddy pay-TV provider Time Warner Cable. But rather than own up to — or even ignore — its WCIA tournament victory, the company chose to send out a memo to thousands of employees name-checking Consumerist and accusing us of being all about making headlines. [More]
Regional Sports Channels Highlight Problem With Comcast/TWC Merger
By 4.29.14
When Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal questioned Comcast and Time Warner Cable execs about how the merger of these companies would impact regional sports programming, the two cable operators shrugged it off as a silly question. But it’s not, and here’s why. [More]
