Sen Franken: Merger will likely harm consumers

Sen Al Franken (D-MN) warned the new AT&T merger with DirecTV will likely hurt consumers. “This is going exactly in the wrong direction,” Sen Franken said on CNN’s “New Day.”

“The fewer players there are in this space, I believe it’s worse for consumers. My constituents in Minnesota will be paying more for cable.”

Sen Franken has also opposed the Comcast merger with Time Warner Cable announced in February. During congressional hearings about that deal, Sen Franken dismissed the companies' arguments that the deal would create more competition.

“No, they’re just buying each other,” Sen Franken said. “This is a bad trend.”