Hey Deeds, how about $50 billion dollars?

[Kaido]

AT&T Is Buying DirecTV for $50 Billion:

http://gizmodo.com/at-t-just-bought-directv-1578217437

Great, now I can drop my cell phone signal AND my TV :biggrin:

 

[ImpulsE69]

Man this country just keeps getting worse.

 

[PottedMeat]

awesome news

as a consumer i can't wait to reap the numerous benefits of this glorious merger

 

[Kaido]

awesome news

as a consumer i can't wait to reap the numerous benefits of this glorious merger

Until it starts raining and you love your TV signal. And then you try to call tech support and your phone call drops :biggrin:

 

[darkxshade]

Verizon will buy Netflix to get even

You heard it here first!

 

[norseamd]

meh

we need a fast, affordable, and neutral internet access

everything should switch over to data over networks

 

[ImpulsE69]

The sad thing is, there is ZERO the common man can do about anything going on lately. No amount of onilne petitioning, whining on the internet or anything is going to fix net nuetrality, or the monopolies that are being allowed.

People want their I-phones, cable and internet. (just as examples). Want isn't even a strong enough word, they think they NEED them and can't live without them. Everyone is stuck until at some point everyone just says enough and shuts it all off...which, unless something like that show Revolution happens, is a pipe dream.

(and before anyone tells me to take the first step to lead the boycott, I don't have any sort of cable or the overpriced smartphones everyone loves..my phone is 4 years old. I do have internet obviously and my life would perish without it )

 

[John Connor]

Carnegie, Rockefeller, Edison and Vanderbilt... but are the telecoms building America? Is Apple and M$ building America? They are building the world!

 

[Jeff7]

The sad thing is, there is ZERO the common man can do about anything going on lately. No amount of onilne petitioning, whining on the internet or anything is going to fix net neutrality, or the monopolies that are being allowed.

People want their I-phones, cable and internet. (just as examples). Want isn't even a strong enough word, they think they NEED them and can't live without them. Everyone is stuck until at some point everyone just says enough and shuts it all off...which, unless something like that show Revoution happens, is a pipe dream.

(and before anyone tells me to take the first step to lead the boycott, I don't have any sort of cable or the overpriced smartphones everyone loves..my phone is 4 years old. I do have internet obviously and my life would perish without it )

And large businesses are adding things into their terms and services that have you "agree" to forfeit your right to pursue legal action against them in court.

Example:

Any dispute or claim relating in any way to your use of any Amazon Service, or to any products or services sold or distributed by Amazon or through Amazon.com will be resolved by binding arbitration, rather than in court, except that you may assert claims in small claims court if your claims qualify. The Federal Arbitration Act and federal arbitration law apply to this agreement.

There is no judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is limited. However, an arbitrator can award on an individual basis the same damages and relief as a court (including injunctive and declaratory relief or statutory damages), and must follow the terms of these Conditions of Use as a court would.

So you might get a shot at something in a small claims court. That's it.
Otherwise, you might get a chance to make your case with a private closed-door arbitrator that has been selected by and paid by the very ones against whom you're seeking reparations.

 

[jpiniero]

I wonder if this is more about the spectrum than the TV service. Could mean they spin off UVerse.

meh
we need a fast, affordable, and neutral internet access

I think you might have to pick 2... at best.

everything should switch over to data over networks

The infrastructure cost needed to to really do that would be really massive. And for what - so people can watch TV more conveniently? Hell, Netflix isn't really that popular in the grand scheme of things and it's 40% of the entire internet traffic.

 

[twinrider1]

C. Michael Armstrong had it right.

 

[ThinClient]

This is a contract finalization. This still hasn't been ratified by the gub'ment.

 

[IronWing]

I'm looking forward to the consolidation and reduction in junk mail I have to carry from the mailbox to the recycling bin.

 

[Jeff7]

This is a contract finalization. This still hasn't been ratified by the gub'ment.

Why should they be expected to do anything about it? There's too much money involved, and people are easily bought out; and it may not be illegal anyway.

 

[jpiniero]

Read up on the internets, and surprisingly it's really about financial engineering more than anything else. Gotta keep that 5% dividend going.

 

[Imp]

Not American so I don't know who ALL your telecom players are.

I own AT&T stock though. Yay?

 

[norseamd]

Not American so I don't know who ALL your telecom players are. I own AT&T stock though. Yay?

burn

lucky i do not have at&t or comcast

some on this board do and they will want your head

 

[Imp]

burn

lucky i do not have at&t or comcast

some on this board do and they will want your head

Meh, I'm guessing most people have AT&T and the other big telecoms in one of their regular or retirement funds. Giant too big to fail company that pays a ~5% dividend, pretty safe bet.

Edit: Holy shit, I completely forgot how big AT&T was: $190B market cap. DirectTV is only ~$40B. Anyone invested in blue chips probably has some. If gubment approves, ~$230B company. Exxon Mobil is $430B and Apple is currently ~$500B.

 

[techs]

Stop your complaining. Corporations are people. Why do you hate people? :whiste:

 

[Ruptga]

Also let's not forget that money is speech, and what is more sacred to Americans than freedom of speech?

 

[Pocatello]

Stop your complaining. Corporations are people. Why do you hate people? :whiste:

Can I has NFL Sunday Ticket for free? NO! They keep telling me every year! Another reason to hate big corporations!

 

[HeXen]

I do contract work for AT&T. You see, the govt is forcing them to provide broadband for all rural areas by a certain date....so to my understanding. They tried to sell off their rural areas but no one would buy them.
Their phone copper lines are so old in most rural areas that to upgrade everyone to meet govt standards is too much.

So I believe this is ultimately their answer. They can provide Uverse like stuff through the satellites ...I guess without pushing more Uverse infrastructure to these areas.
To do so is pretty expensive, we set Uverse fiber and cabinets but haven't done so in a quite some time.

What AT&T really wants to do...so I'm hearing through the grapevine from their workers, is that they want to do away with all of it except for cell phone. They want to go all wireless and be free from all the hassles and expense of land lines.

 

[Engineer]

Stop your complaining. Corporations are people. Why do you hate people? :whiste:

Damn straight!

Just less competition and higher prices coming. Not to mention the 'good ole boys' club of endless board jumping and re-hiring the same people.

Example: Michael Willner was CEO of InsightBB. InsightBB was bought by TWC (Wilner received a huge buyout to sell Insight). TWC is being acquired by Comcast. As a stipulation to get it by regulators, Comcast is selling part of TWC to Charter and the rest as a new company (Spinco). Guess who the CEO of Spinco is going to be? That's right...Wilner.

 

[toughtrasher]

Cool higher prices... Big corporations are ruining us

 

[Jeff7]

Damn straight!

Just less competition and higher prices coming. Not to mention the 'good ole boys' club of endless board jumping and re-hiring the same people.

Example: Michael Willner was CEO of InsightBB. InsightBB was bought by TWC (Wilner received a huge buyout to sell Insight). TWC is being acquired by Comcast. As a stipulation to get it by regulators, Comcast is selling part of TWC to Charter and the rest as a new company (Spinco). Guess who the CEO of Spinco is going to be? That's right...Wilner.

Laundering money can work quite well.

Might as well launder entire companies too.