Proposed AT&T-DirecTV deal bad for consumers

[Commentary] AT&T's proposed takeover of DirecTV is a bad deal for consumers in a landscape littered with other bad deals.

The deal would combine the nation's second-largest pay television company with the nation's second-largest broadband and wireless provider. In the process, it would leave some 27 million American households -- including hundreds of thousands here in the Bay Area -- with one fewer choice for pay TV service and would further entrench an already powerful company in AT&T. "For consumers, they're seeing the universe of providers continue to shrink," said Harold Feld, a senior vice president at Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group. With the three potential deals under consideration, "This is a really defining moment" for the industry.

This deal makes little sense for consumers. Think about it: Is your chief complaint about pay TV that you have too many choices? Do you really think that the customer service you receive or the prices you pay will get any better if one of the main competitors goes away -- and the remaining company has billions of dollars in debt it needs to pay off?

From four choices, many consumers would now have just three. Instead of encouraging AT&T to fully build out another competitor, it would allow the company to simply rely on an existing one. And you've got to believe that AT&T's rivals would start sniffing at DirecTV-rival Dish Network next, potentially shrinking the choices further.