The eight-year bromance between Barack Obama — who appointed the first chief technology officer for the US — and Silicon Valley is over. Now what? That’s the question the tech industry has been asking since a real estate mogul turned reality TV star, with a spotty reputation on technology, was voted in as 45th president …
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AT&T Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson was spotted Thursday morning heading into Trump Tower along with Robert Quinn, AT&T’s senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs. The meeting isn’t public, but Bloomberg and other media outlets reported that the AT&T execs were scheduled to meet with President-elect Donald Trump to go over the company’s $85.4 billion bid for …
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AT&T and Time Warner may have found a smoother path toward their proposed $85 billion merger: going around the Federal Communications Commission. In a document filed late Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the two companies said they don’t plan to transfer any of Time Warner’s FCC’s licenses to AT&T once the deal closes. That could allow them to …
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AT&T’s plans to merge with media giant Time Warner in an $85 billion deal isn’t going to skate by Capitol Hill. On Wednesday, Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in a Senate antitrust subcommittee asked the companies tough questions about whether their planned merger would lower prices for consumers or stifle video competitors online. The bipartisan grilling could be …
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The signs are pointing in the right direction for telecommunications companies during a Donald Trump presidency. Trump’s transition team is full of critics of the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules, which imposed old-style telephone regulation on the internet. There are indications a Trump administration may be much friendlier to big mergers and acquisitions than was President Barack Obama’s team. …
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The Federal Communications Commission has zeroed in on AT&T’s practice of zero rating. In a letter Wednesday, the FCC outlined “serious concerns” it has about AT&T’s practice of exempting its own streaming-video services from wireless customers’ mobile data allotments, while counting content from other providers against the allotments. AT&T’s current practice, through its “Sponsored Data” program, “may obstruct competition and …
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The Department of Justice has accused satellite TV provider DirecTV of being the ringleader in an illegal pact among pay TV companies to block wide distribution of the channel that has exclusive rights to broadcast Los Angeles Dodgers games. The Justice Department has accused DirecTV of colluding with competitors. US Department of Justice In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the DOJ …
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In a less-than-shocking turn, Hulu will include channels from joint owners 21st Century Fox and Walt Disney in a virtual live-TV service coming next year. Disney networks that will be on the new service include its sports powerhouse, ESPN, as well as broadcast network ABC, among others. Fox channels include its broadcast network of the same name, plus Fox News, …
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One thing is certain: if AT&T takes over Time Warner, there won’t be any “Time Warner” companies to confuse anymore. Telecom giant AT&T on Saturday signed a deal to buy entertainment giant Time Warner. It’s a big deal, in both meanings of the phrase. Valued at $85.4 billion in cash and stock, the acquisition would rank among the biggest takeovers …
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AT&T wants to give you a cheaper alternative to cable TV. The answer: Its new DirecTV Now online video service will cost only $35 a month. The price of the service, expected to launch next month, will include the cost of streaming plus 100 channels of programming, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said on Tuesday at the WSJ.D live conference in …
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