Sunday, May 18, 2014
Consumers Union on AT&T-DirecTV deal
WASHINGTON — Telecommunications giant AT&T announced a deal to buy the nation’s largest satellite TV company DirecTV today in an agreement reportedly valued at $48.5 billion.
Delara Derakhshani, policy counsel for Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, said, “On the heels of Comcast’s bid for Time Warner Cable, AT&T is going to try to pull off a mega-merger of its own. These could be the start of a wave of mergers that should put federal regulators on high alert. AT&T’s takeover of DirecTV is just the latest attempt at consolidation in a marketplace where consumers are already saddled with lousy service and price hikes. The rush is on for some of the biggest industry players to get even bigger, with consumers left on the losing end. You can’t justify AT&T buying DirecTV by pointing at Comcast’s grab for Time Warner, because neither one is a good deal for consumers.”
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Media Contact: David Butler, dbutler@consumer.org or 202-579-7935 (mobile); Kara Kelber, kkelber@consumer.org, or Michael McCauley, mmccauley@consumer.org