The FCC and Justice Department should scrutinize AT&T’s...

The FCC and Justice Department should scrutinize AT&T’s proposed acquisition of DirecTV carefully to consider how it may hurt competition, said Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and ranking member Mike Lee, R-Utah, Friday in a letter to those regulators. “It is important to validate and weigh these efficiencies against the potential competitive harms that could result from the transaction,” they said. “As always, the key to analyzing any merger should be the effect it will have on consumers, including price, choice, quality of service, and innovation.” The Antitrust Subcommittee plans a hearing on the deal this summer, they said, and they “will follow up with you based on the evidence and testimony reviewed during that process.” They point to the deal as potentially affecting consumer welfare. “Together with the recently announced merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable,” AT&T/DirecTV “could potentially affect future innovation and technological advances, including the availability of online video distribution,” Klobuchar and Lee said.