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FCC Moves To Block AT&T Deal With T-Mobile Forecasting “Massive” Job Loss

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday November 22, 2011 @ 1:16pm PSTTags: AT&T, DirecTV, Dish Network, Dish Network High-Speed Internet Service, FCC, FCC Julius Genachowski, Julius Genachowski, T-Mobile

UPDATED: The merger of the wireless companies was already on the ropes after August when the Justice Department said it would challenge the deal in court on antitrust grounds. Now FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is circulating a draft order that would add an important additional barrier to the deal: It would ask an administrative law judge to consider whether the combo would serve the public interest — after the end of the Justice trial, due to begin in February. That would significantly delay and complicate the AT&T and T-Mobile’s merger plans. The last time the FCC did this — in 2002 when Echostar wanted to merge with DirecTV — the companies scrapped their plan.

Genachowski’s proposal follows a conclusion by FCC staff that consumers would be harmed if AT&T and T-Mobile merge. “The record clearly shows that — in no uncertain terms — this merger would result in a massive loss of U.S. jobs and investment” as AT&T cuts costs to make the economics of the deal work, a senior FCC official says. The agency found that there’d be less competition in 99 of the 100 biggest markets. (The exception is Omaha.) Staffers also concluded that the deal would not improve deployment of 4G services. If the FCC decides not to approve a merger like this, then it has to send the case to an administrative law judge for a court-like hearing that would look at whether the deal would serve the public interest. The judge’s finding would then go back to the full FCC for a vote.

AT&T says the FCC’s draft order is “yet another example of a government agency acting to prevent billions in new investment and the creation of many thousands of new jobs at a time when the U.S. economy desperately needs both. At this time, we are reviewing all options.” But Dish Network — which has been amassing wireless spectrum in the hope of launching a broadband service — says that the FCC made the right decision. An AT&T-T-Mobile merger would raise “barriers to entry for potential new entrants like Dish Network.” Consumer advocates also applauded the agency. “It means the FCC has found merit in our arguments that a combined AT&T/T-Mobile will create a duopoly in the wireless market (AT&T and Verizon) which will increase prices for service and for handsets,” says Media Access Project Policy Director Andrew Jay Schwartzman. Free Press CEO Craig Aaron says that “the Department of Justice and the FCC both agree that this merger is a bad deal, and it’s time for AT&T to walk away.”
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UPDATE: DirecTV Renews Deal With AT&T, But Laments Rising Programming Costs Following Strong 3Q

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday November 3, 2011 @ 11:30am PDTTags: AT&T, AT&T U-Verse, DirecTV, DirecTV Earnings, Dish Network, Dish Network High-Speed Internet Service, NFL Sunday Ticket, Verizon

UPDATE, 11:30 AM: DirecTV shares are up 6.3% after it reported better-than-expected sub growth in 3Q — and a three year extension of its deal with AT&T to sell co-branded TV, broadband, and wired and wireless phone services in 22 states. The agreement, which now runs through March 2015, covers areas where AT&T does not offer its U-verse video service. There’s “no material change” in the terms, DirecTV CEO Mike White told analysts in a conference call. He added that it’s “too soon to say” whether DirecTV will offer more bundles with Verizon broadband services.  ”The question will be how customer friendly the (Internet usage) caps are.”  White says he talks to everybody about packaging broadband service with DirecTV — and that could include Dish Network if it uses the wireless spectrum it’s amassing to sell a wireless Internet service. DirecTV is “thinking Read More »

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Dish Eyes High-Speed Mobile Internet Service

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday August 23, 2011 @ 1:35pm PDTTags: Charlie Ergen, Dish Network, Dish Network High-Speed Internet Service, FCC, Joe Clayton

Another layer of a cryptic Dish Network plan for its future was peeled back today when the nation’s second-largest satellite TV provider formally asked the U.S. government permission to offer a mobile high-speed Internet service. The move brings … Read More »

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