John Oliver rips AT&T-Time Warner merger

Late-night host John Oliver took on antitrust policy in a segment during his HBO show where he railed against the planned AT&T-Time Warner merger. On Sept 24, during an episode of “Last Week Tonight,” Oliver took shots at the major telecommunication company — and others such as eyewear company Luxottica and even Google — for consolidation across markets, which he says is is harming innovation and consumers.

“Even our own company, Time-Warner, is trying to merge with AT&T, which makes this story a little dangerous to do. That is presuming AT&T executives get their shi--y service working long enough to see it,” Oliver joked. The late night host made his case against the dangers of a few corporations dominating entire industries: “Heavily consolidated industries can lose incentive to innovate, and the best example of this maybe the cable box beneath your TV,” Oliver said. “If you have one of those, you probably hate it because it’s huge, it’s glitchy, and it maybe one of the largest energy consuming items in your house even when it’s turned off. If you think about it, cable companies have no real incentive to improve them. They are essentially regional monopolies. They know you basically have nowhere else to go.”