AT&T’s buying DirecTV would put “significant downward pressure” on...

AT&T’s buying DirecTV would put “significant downward pressure” on the prices of their new integrated bundle of products, and could also lead to lower prices on other companies’ products, said Yale University professors Steven Berry and Philip Haile in a presentation submitted to the FCC and posted Friday in docket 14-90 by the companies (http://bit.ly/1oRWFfy). If the deal does cause upward pressure on the prices of other products, it will be “modest and more than offset by the downward pricing pressures,” the filing said. “The net effect on consumer surplus will be demonstrably positive.” The deal will also lead to favorable effects for consumers, because it will allow the merged company to provide a bundle of video and broadband in areas where AT&T currently provides video, they said.