Name: American Telephone and Telegraph
Age: 133
Occupation: telecommunications company
Last Seen: Dallas, TX
Bee-otched For: gulping TimeWarner
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It's official: one of the biggest media companies on Earth is getting bigger.
The Department of Justice ruled that AT&T can go ahead and buy TimeWarner for $85.4 billion. That means that once the ink is dried, AT&T will now own CNN, HBO, TBS, Warner Bros. Pictures, Superman, Batman, "The Wizard of Oz" and Mad Magazine, just to name a few.
AT&T already owns DirecTV and a minority stake in Game Show Network with Sony. Despite owning a good chunk of the country's cable and satellite media, the DOJ ruled that neither AT&T nor TW will have to divest anything to complete the merger.
Of course, this is the same AT&T whom in 1982 had to divest their Baby Bells after the same DOJ ruled that they were running a monopoly.
Ironically, the merger was approved a day after net neutrality rules were erased, allowing ISPs to tell their subscribers what they can or can't download or watch.
Sadly, this further causes AT&T to be an even bigger company and in the long run will fuck over a lot of people. Since AT&T owns both DirecTV and a ton of cable channels, they can charge their competitors like Dish Network and Comcast more money to carry those channels. It's also worth noting that AT&T does give more to the Republicans than the Democrats, which might force CNN to go further to the right. Strangely enough, Drumpf himself claimed that the AT&T/TW merger would be bad for consumers. Then again, he religiously watches Fox News Channel, so he could care less.
This reminds me of another TW merger: the one between them and AOL (remember them?). The two merged in 2001 to the tune of $164 BILLION. But because AOL couldn't compete with the evolving cable internet market, the company's value dropped significantly and in 2003, the AOL portion of the name was eliminated. AOL was eventually spun off and is now owned by Verizon (along with another internet has-been, Yahoo!).
Folks, I avoid AT&T at all costs. My cable's though this company and my phone's though these fine folks. Plus, my ISP's owned by my apartment, so I can't do much about that option. I used to have AT&T for DSL, and sadly, they called me every hour it seemed to harass me about getting more shit from them, Never again. It's more annoying than the subscription tags that fall out of my Mad Magazines every month.
So, what, us worry? Sadly, a lot.
---
It's official: one of the biggest media companies on Earth is getting bigger.
The Department of Justice ruled that AT&T can go ahead and buy TimeWarner for $85.4 billion. That means that once the ink is dried, AT&T will now own CNN, HBO, TBS, Warner Bros. Pictures, Superman, Batman, "The Wizard of Oz" and Mad Magazine, just to name a few.
AT&T already owns DirecTV and a minority stake in Game Show Network with Sony. Despite owning a good chunk of the country's cable and satellite media, the DOJ ruled that neither AT&T nor TW will have to divest anything to complete the merger.
Of course, this is the same AT&T whom in 1982 had to divest their Baby Bells after the same DOJ ruled that they were running a monopoly.
Ironically, the merger was approved a day after net neutrality rules were erased, allowing ISPs to tell their subscribers what they can or can't download or watch.
Sadly, this further causes AT&T to be an even bigger company and in the long run will fuck over a lot of people. Since AT&T owns both DirecTV and a ton of cable channels, they can charge their competitors like Dish Network and Comcast more money to carry those channels. It's also worth noting that AT&T does give more to the Republicans than the Democrats, which might force CNN to go further to the right. Strangely enough, Drumpf himself claimed that the AT&T/TW merger would be bad for consumers. Then again, he religiously watches Fox News Channel, so he could care less.
This reminds me of another TW merger: the one between them and AOL (remember them?). The two merged in 2001 to the tune of $164 BILLION. But because AOL couldn't compete with the evolving cable internet market, the company's value dropped significantly and in 2003, the AOL portion of the name was eliminated. AOL was eventually spun off and is now owned by Verizon (along with another internet has-been, Yahoo!).
Folks, I avoid AT&T at all costs. My cable's though this company and my phone's though these fine folks. Plus, my ISP's owned by my apartment, so I can't do much about that option. I used to have AT&T for DSL, and sadly, they called me every hour it seemed to harass me about getting more shit from them, Never again. It's more annoying than the subscription tags that fall out of my Mad Magazines every month.
So, what, us worry? Sadly, a lot.
---
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Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com
Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!
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