Public Knowledge Joins Conservative Groups Against AT&T-Time Warner Merger in DOJ Letter

Public Knowledge joined conservative groups -- including the Tea Party Patriots and Frontiers of Freedom -- in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions requesting that the Department of Justice block or condition the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger.

The letter states: “As entities that closely follow the US media landscape, we are acutely aware that AT&T and Time Warner are already massive media conglomerates in their own rights. AT&T’s 2015 purchase of DirecTV made it the country’s top pay-TV firm, the No. 2 wireless provider, and the No. 3 broadband company. Time Warner, meanwhile, owns CNN and HBO, three of the top five general entertainment cable networks, and the second largest movie studio in Warner Brothers. We are deeply concerned that allowing these firms to join forces -- without significant conditions that fully address all competitive concerns -- would intolerably limit consumers’ control over what they watch and where they get their information. The First Amendment is the bulwark of political discourse, and the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger will necessarily further restrict the diversity of speech which strengthens our nation as it becomes in the new company’s interest to promote select channels over alternative outlets. At this time where giant media companies are aggressively seeking to consolidate, our antitrust laws have rarely been a more potent and needed defender of American consumers of all stripes and ideologies.”