There are two pending media mega-mergers under regulatory consideration in Washington, but they are two different things, says AT&T.
According to a report in the Hill, AT&T made its points in a filing with the FCC, comparing its proposed merger with DirecTV to Comcast’s proposed merger with Time Warner Cable.
For starters, Comcast and TWC are the two biggest providers of cable television, so the combination represents a massive increase in cable consolidation. In AT&T’s case, its U-Verse program service is a small entity in the MVPD world, so its combination with DirecTV’s service will lead to nowhere near as much consolidation.
DirecTV has no broadband assets whatsoever, so there will be no additional consolidation in that market in AT&T’s case. The same cannot be said for Comcast/TWC.
When it comes to programming, Comcast has the full scale and might of NBCUniversal under its wing. AT&T and DirecTV have and will have nothing,
Its deal makes sense, says AT&T, because it allows it to compete alongside Comcast, TWC and other services as a bundle provider, giving consumers who want to get video, internet and telephony from a single source one more option.
