WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Friday, AT&T announced plans to acquire Time Warner for $84.5 billion. The deal would include Timer Warner’s popular brands HBO and CNN, and force other distributors to negotiate with AT&T for programming licenses.
"This merger represents a gross concentration of power that runs counter to the public good and should be blocked," Sanders wrote to Hesse, who heads the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
Sanders argued the proposed merger would shrink the media landscape and stifle competition in the United States.
Sanders explained that the plan would give AT&T control over both content and distribution, which he alleged would give the company less incentive to provide additional choices to consumers.
The merger has to be approved by the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and other US federal regulators.
