WASHINGTON — The CEOs of AT&T and Time Warner told Congress that the merger of the two media and communications giants will benefit Americans and boost competition in cable, rather than quash it.
The skeptical head of the Senate antitrust panel examining the proposed $85.4 billion deal says the tie-up could restrain competition.
The panel's chairman, Sen. Michael Lee, R-Utah, and its senior Democrat have said the deal, one of the biggest media mergers ever, raises significant antitrust issues.
Lee opened the hearing Wednesday by saying, "The potential anticompetitive favoritism that the combined firm could bestow on its own products is not limited to price or access, but extends to the quality of the offerings as well."
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes, however, sitting before the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, said the combined company would push technology forward and lead to more choices for customers.
"Together, AT&T and Time Warner will disrupt the entrenched pay-TV models, giving customers more options, creating more competition for cable TV providers and accelerating deployment of 5G wireless broadband," Stephenson said Wednesday in prepared testimony.
Critics of the deal range from industry analysts and public-interest groups to President-elect Donald Trump, who promised on the campaign trail that he'd kill the deal "because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few."
Stephenson said Tuesday that he is confident the deal will be approved despite vocal opposition from Trump.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.