FCC Takes Aim at DirecTV Now

The Federal Communications Commission has fired a warning shot at AT&T's free data service for mobile customers, saying the combination of DirecTV Now and AT&T Mobility sponsored data plans "appears to present significant anti-competitive effects."

On the same day that Donald Trump was elected, signaling a likely far more deregulatory FCC, Jon Wilkins, chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, wrote to AT&T senior VP Bob Quinn to say the bureau thinks their sponsored data mobile broadband plan combined with zero rating DirecTV video apps for AT&T Mobility subscribers may obstruct competition. He invited AT&T to explain why the bureau was not right to be concerned. AT&T suggested its plans were pro-competitive because it makes it easier for subscribers to cut the cords to their cable plans. AT&T also said it was ready to allow any other content provider to offer sponsored content in the same "free data" model.