AT&T, Time Warner Execs Knock Trump, Kaine for ‘Uninformed’ Merger Comments

AT&T and Time Warner chief executives Randall Stephenson and Jeffrey Bewkes are pushing back against “uninformed comments” from top politicians attacking the pending $85 billion deal to combine their companies. The two business leaders also announced a new, $35-a-month streaming content service called DirecTV Now, which will likely include Time Warner content among 100 “premium” channels and will compete nationally with pricier cable plans.

A spokesman for AT&T said the company does not expect the merger with Time Warner to be approved before the planned late-November launch of DirecTV Now. The launch of the new service is just the “tip of the iceberg” in terms of its collaboration with Time Warner. “These are uninformed comments,” the AT&T executive said, stressing the $35 monthly price point of AT&T’s new DirecTV Now streaming service. “Anybody who characterizes this as a means to raise prices is ignoring the basic premise of what we’re trying to do here.” Stephenson also pointed out that the merger was a classic case of “vertical integration,” where two companies occupying different stages of production in an industry come together. “Vertical integrations are rarely a means for raising prices,” said Stephenson. “You’re not changing the market structure in any way, shape or form.” He added that while he’s sure regulators “will have some concerns with this,” the federal government has historically approved vertical integrations.