Emmanuel Edosa
December 4, 2017
Both readings, express an opinion on the current event of AT&T forming a vertical merger with Time Warner Cable. A vertical merger is a deal formed with two companies used to sell or buy from each other but now combined into one single ownership. In a vertical merger, the two companies merging are not in the same stage of production. In this case, Time Warner is the producer and AT&T is the distributor. The Justice Department is blocking AT&T from buying Time Warner Cable due to the belief of its intended harmful effect to consumers and competition. The controversial topic of whether or not AT&T should merge with Time Warner Cable is based on two perspectives. The first outlook onto the situation is based
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Based on the readings, the merge can be looked upon as a way to gain more power and can ultimately lead into a negative outcome, where families must pay more for cable without any valid explanation other than the price rose because of AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable. With the power AT&T gains, the company can withhold certain tv programs from other tv companies in demand for higher prices. This will force their rivals to pay more every year, just to get hold of these tv programs such as HBO, CNN, TBS and Cartoon Network. According to The United States District Court For The District Of Columbia Case, “AT&T wants control of Time Warner and its popular tv programs to use the control to hinder competition.” AT&T wanting to acquire Time Warner Cable violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which “prohibits the acquisitions of “stock” and “assets” where the effect of such acquisition may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly. “ (American Antitrust Institute, 1) Violating this section of the law, violates the anti-trust law which is a law that regulates corporations and businesses so that competition is fair and beneficial to consumers. Without the Justice Department trying to get rid of any kind of merger between AT&T and Time Warner Cable, the unlawful market power would not be
Washington Post,. (2014). Comcast, Time Warner agree to merge in $45 billion deal. Retrieved 18 May 2014, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/comcast-time-warner-agree-to-merge-in-45-billion-deal/2014/02/13/7b778d60-9469-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html
Robert Zimmerman, the senior vice president of business development, for American Cable Communications (ACC) was in the process of looking for a potential acquisition target for ACC. In December 2007, Zimmerman remember a presentation that was made recently by Rubinstein & Ross (R&R). R&R was a boutique investment bank that was well known for doing deals in the media and telecommunications area. During this presentation it was suggested that ACC buy out AirThread Connections (AirThread) which is a large regional cellular provider. The current industry of these companies were moving more toward bundled service offerings and by adding AirThread it would help ACC cover an area of service it does not currently offer. In order to determine if the acquisition should be done an analysis needs to be done.
Of particular importance is the deregulation of the telecommunications industry as mentioned in the act (“Implementation of the Telecommunications Act,” NTLA). This reflects a new thinking that service providers should not be limited by artificial and now antique regulatory categories but should be permitted to compete with each other in a robust marketplace that contains many diverse participants. Moreover the Act is evidence of governmental commitment to make sure that all citizens have access to advanced communication services at affordable prices through its “universal service” provisions even as competitive markets for the telecommunications industry expand. Prior to passage of this new Act, U.S. federal and state laws and a judicially established consent decree allowed some competition for certain services, most notably among long distance carriers. Universal service for basic telephony was a national objective, but one developed and shaped through federal and state regulations and case law (“Telecommunications Act of 1996,” Technology Law). The goal of universal service was referred to only in general terms in the Communications Act of 1934, the nation's basic telecommunications statute. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 among other things: (i) opens up competition by local telephone companies, long distance providers, and cable companies ...
In 1996, Congress passed the Telecommunications Act thereby lifting restrictions on media ownership that had been in place for over sixty years (Moyers 2003; Bagdikian 2000: xviii). It was now possible for a single media company to own not just two radio stations in any given local market, but eight. On the national level, there was no longer any limit on the number of stations a company could own – the Act abandoned the previous nation-wide ownership cap of forty stations (20 FM and 20 AM). This “anti-regulatory sentiment in government” has continued and in 2004 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a new rule that would allow corporations to own “45 percent of the media in a single market, up from [the] 35 percent” established by the 1996 Act (Croteau & Hoynes 2001: 30; AFL-CIO 2004). Companies can now also own both a newspaper and a television station in the same city (AFL-CIO 2004). This deregulation has led to a frenzied wave of mergers – most notably the Viacom/CBS merger in 1999, the largest in history (Croteau & Hoynes 2001: 21). Ownership of the media has rapidly consolidated into fewer and fewer hands as companies have moved to gobble up newspapers, television stations, and radio stations across the country.
All in all i feel the govt. ought to regulate cable, telephones, and broadcasting as natural monopolies as a result of it's usually most effective to maintain natural monopolies, if they honestly ar natural monopolies, however subject them to some variety of government regulation with relation to costs, quality of service, etc. the rationale for not breaking it up is, of course, by definition, the actual fact that a natural monopoly will attain a lower cost than might competitive companies within the same trade. This contrasts with the case for different kinds of monopolies, that it's typically most effective for them to be variable into competitive companies.
The proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable would make it the largest provider of cable in America and give it unprecedented market power and allow it to continue to pursue profits and the cost of consumers. While it would not be a monopoly, it would be giving the company dangerous power. Already Comcast has control of one of the largest media providers in America, NBC. It has significant control of internet as well, and has made Netflix pay Comcast to have faster speeds. The question now isn’t if the merger will be bad for business, it is if the United States government will make the right choice for
Have you ever wondered how your phone company started out? Or the new innovations it has brought about? And maybe even how the business is run? Well, today I’m going to talk about AT&T’s history, the products it sells, the employee jobs and U-verse.
Vertical integration is when an organisation own companies on two or more levels of the buying chain. Examples of this can be found within “The Big 4,” all of them own an airline, travel agent and a tour operator. The companies have until recently used different names for their travel agency, airlines and tour operators, but now they are power branding their companies so that customers can see whom they are booking with. An example of this is TUI UK, which has rebranded its companies using the Thomson name.
The type of merger between Electronic Data System (EDS) and AT Kearney is called Forward vertical merger. Forward vertical merger is when two or more companies combines together in the same industry but different field or when two companies producing goods and services for a product. Electronic data system, the US information technology group, brought AT Kearney, the global strategy consultancy firm in a deal worth $96m. Electronic data system was firm involving producing information technology equipment’s bought AT Kearney an IT consultancy firm.
The world is experiencing a communications revolution. The Internet, e-Commerce and other developments (including the convergence of communication technologies) are profoundly reshaping economic and social life. AT&T must position itself to meet the challenge of this revolution. The strategic development of information-based industries is a key to the future social and economic development of the world.
The year is 1952 and a young John Rigas purchased a cable company for a mere $300 in Coudersport, Pennsylvania with high hopes of building the company into a successful family owned and operated business (AICPA, 2005, para. 3); a business that would remain unparallel to the rest of its competition. In the late 1990s his dreams came to fruition; John Rigas, along with a few close family members and investors, purchased Century Communications for $5.2 billion and merged the companies together becoming the 6th largest cable company serving more than 5.6 million subscribers (AICPA, 2005, para. 4). Ensuring that the majority of Adelphia’s voting stock and control of the board remained in the hands of f...
On December 14, 2000, the Federal Trade Commission approved the planned merger of AOL and Time Warner after both companies pledged to “protect consumer choice” both now and in the future. The AOL Time Warner merger was approved by the Federal Communications Commission on January 11, 2001, and is the biggest merger in corporate history, then estimated at a total market value of $350 billion. The merger created a ‘powerhouse’ of new and traditional media. AOL Time Warner has led the union of the media, entertainment, communications and Internet industries. Throughout the years the face of media and entertainment industries has changed drastically as a result of increased technology. The popularity of newspapers gave way to other forms of media and entertainment such as magazines, television, cable, music, and most recently the Internet.
Vertical integration is where a company becomes their own supplier or distributor through acquisition. Seprod uses the strategy by their acquisition of Belvedere Estate in 2006 so as to expand its dairy farm pastures to increase their supply of milk output from the dairy farming. They also use vertical integration in their subsidiary Industrial Sales Limited. This is done by making them the main distributer and marketer of their
In fact, some of the biggest threats to the company’s growth are the government’s regulation that increases the risk to the underlying business. In addition, the risk of losing the exclusive contract for the iPhone would be a major loss for AT&T. Most of the consumers choose AT&T because of their exclusive contract for the iPhone. Hence, this loss of business will significantly influence the AT&T's profitability and revenue. Moreover, the antitrust authorities play an important role on approved the merger of AT&T.
‘Horizontal Merger’ is when two companies with similar products join together. ‘Vertical Merger’ is two companies at different stages in the production process. ‘Conglomerate Merger’ is when two different types of companies join together. ‘Market extension merger’ is between two companies who produce the same product but sell in different markets. ‘Product Extension merger’ is between companies with related production but they do not compe...