AT&T, DirecTV Say Responses Filed on Merger Confirm Deal Is in Public Interest

AT&T and DirecTV said responses filed in the FCC proceeding on AT&T’s purchase of DirecTV confirm that the transaction is in the public interest. Opponents’ efforts to show countervailing harm to consumers are “unpersuasive” and “transparent attempts to advance parochial agendas,” the companies said in a joint opposition to petitions to deny the deal in docket 14-90. There can be no legitimate concern with the programming matters raised by some opponents, they said. There's no question “that the combined firm will not have sufficient size to exercise monopsony power in content acquisition,” they said. Because the applicants own very little content, “there is no reason to apply program-access requirements beyond those already contained in the Communications Act.” No party seriously disputes that the deal will enable the combined company to reduce the cost of acquiring content, which is the largest and most critical variable cost for multichannel video programming distributors, they said.