Public Knowledge to Testify in House AT&T DirecTV Merger Hearing

Public Knowledge senior staff attorney, John Bergmayer, will testify before the House Judiciary Committee in the hearing titled, "The Proposed Merger of AT&T and DirecTV."

In Bergmayer's testimony he will call on Congress to be vigilant as multiple mergers come before it in the coming months.

"Policymakers and the press are paying a lot of attention to rumored deals like Sprint/T-Mobile, and pending mergers like Comcast/TimeWarner Cable," said Bergmayer. "But during this time of consolidation Congress must pay close attention to the specifics of each new deal as they are announced."

The following can be attributed to John Bergmayer, Senior Staff Attorney at Public Knowledge: "AT&T and DirecTV directly compete in more than 60 local TV markets. This deal runs afoul of the Department of Justice's antitrust guidelines. It's hard to accept AT&T's claims that buying a direct rival can be good for competition.”