Speeches
Utah Speaks Out About Obamacare
Jan 11 2017
These are not stories from wealthy Utahns who have had to pay higher taxes. Nor are these stories from low-income Utahns who already had insurance through Medicaid.
These are letters from the too often invisible victims of Obamacare: those middle class families who used to be able to afford health care when they needed it, but are now forced to pay for what often amounts to a second mortgage, for a so-called “insurance” plan that never seems to pay out because of high deductibles.
Floor Speech on Bears Ears National Monument
Jan 05 2017
The creativity, however, is not limited to content creators. Networks and distributors are also innovating to allow consumers new and unprecedented access to their content of choice. No longer are consumers limited to whatever bundle their local cable operator has negotiated. Dish, Sony, and DirecTV all offer cable bundles allowing consumers to stream live television over the Internet. Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and CBS, among others, allow consumers to purchase programming directly. And more innovation is on the horizon, as many industry participants expect 5G wireless technology to provide more competition to broadband and landline cable, opening up even more possibilities to content creators and distributors.
This brings us to the reason we are here today: to discuss the proposed acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T, and ensuring this flourishing marketplace for creative content retains its vibrancy. AT&T is the second-largest wireless carrier in the United States and, through its DirecTV and U-verse subsidiaries, the largest U.S. cable or satellite provider. Time Warner is currently the world’s third-largest television network and filmed TV entertainment company. In late October, AT&T announced that it reached a deal to purchase Time Warner for $85 billion. The proposed transaction would combine AT&T’s millions of wireless and pay-television subscribers with Time Warner’s media lineup, which includes CNN, TNT, HBO, and Warner Brothers’ film and TV studio.
The companies claim that this acquisition will result in significant benefits for consumers. The combined company will provide a “stronger competitive alternative to cable and other video providers” and “better value, more choices, [and an] enhanced customer experience for over-the-top and mobile viewing.”[2] Additionally, by controlling the customer experience from content creation through distribution, the combined company says it will be able to innovate its advertising practices and introduce customized or targeted advertising, providing both an improved customer experience and a significant competitor to digital advertising giants Google and Facebook.
This transaction involves no horizontal overlaps. However, if this fact ended the antitrust analysis, then this would be a very Seinfeldian hearing about nothing. Although vertical deals typically raise fewer concerns than horizontal deals, such deals nevertheless may still tend to substantially lessen competition – the key analysis under the Clayton Act. The principal concern with vertical integration is foreclosure, or denying access of competing firms to suppliers and customers. A key question thus becomes what will the incentives and opportunities be for the combined firm post-transaction?
Many critics of the deal have posited all sorts of potential anticompetitive abuses that the combination of AT&T and Time Warner could create. AT&T could increase the price of or reduce access to Time Warner content to rival television distributors, thereby not only raising its rivals’ costs, but also making its DirecTV products appear more attractive to consumers. This risk is particularly acute in the nascent online video services market. Over the past few years, we’ve seen the development of products like Sling and PlayStation Vue, which allow customers to watch a live stream of cable channels via their Internet connection. And DirecTV has just begun its own similar service, called DirecTV Now. AT&T’s ownership of HBO, CNN, and the other must-have television products of Time Warner could give DirecTV Now a significant competitive advantage over its competitors. AT&T’s ownership of these channels could also potentially force DirecTV’s rivals into a Hobson’s choice of higher prices or limited Time Warner content, knowing that many customers would migrate to DirecTV if its rivals refuse to pay the higher Time Warner prices.
The potential anticompetitive favoritism that the combined firm could bestow on its own products is not limited to price or access, but extends to the quality of the offerings as well. And it is here that we get to the siren song of zero-rating, whereby a wireless or broadband distributor excludes particular data from counting towards its customers’ data caps. On its face, zero-rating appears to be consumer friendly – the content is free for subscribers, and helps them avoid paying overage fees on data caps. However, critics argue that zero-rating transforms Internet service providers or wireless carriers from “relatively neutral conduits into gatekeepers.”[3] The FCC recently expressed concern that AT&T’s zero-rating practices “may obstruct competition and harm consumers by constraining their ability to access existing and future mobile video services not affiliated with AT&T.”[4] Critics say that such concerns would only be exacerbated if AT&T were able to bring Time Warner content under its fold. However, as the FCC letter itself illustrates, in regards to this merger, we also have a regulatory framework that is designed to at least minimize, if not eliminate, many of the posited anticompetitive harms.
The issues raised by this deal are complicated and, like most antitrust analysis, very fact intensive. The focus of the analysis should remain on maximizing consumer welfare, and consumer welfare is maximized by protecting competition, not necessarily by protecting competitors. While the final determination regarding the competitive impact of the deal will be made by the Department of Justice, I believe we can make a valuable contribution to the conversation today by closely examining the questions raised by this unique transaction. I look forward to hearing from and engaging with our witnesses regarding these issues.
[1] Todd Leopold, The New, New TV Golden Age, CNN (May 6, 2013), http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/06/showbiz/golden-age-of-tv/.
[2] “AT&T to Acquire Time Warner,” AT&T Time Warner Analyst Call (Oct. 24, 2016), available at https://www.att.com/Investor/Earnings/3q16/10_24_16_analyst_call.pdf.
[3] Ernesto Falcon & Gennie Gebhart, “AT&T and Time Warner's Merger Raises Zero-Rating Concerns,” Electronic Frontier Foundation (Nov. 2, 2016), available at https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/10/att-and-time-warners-merger-presents-significant-zero-rating-concerns.
[4] Letter from Jon Wilkins, Chief, FCC, to Robert W. Quinn, Jr., Senior Exec. Vice President, AT&T, at 2 (Nov. 9, 2016).
Floor Remarks on George Will Column
Dec 06 2016
The court ruled that a video called “Dear Future Mom” produced by the Global Down Syndrome Foundation must be banned from French television.
What triggered the censorship? Inciting violence? Hate-speech? Discrimination? The opposite, as it turns out.
I’ll let Mr. Will tell the story:
The subject of today’s hearing is the unprecedented consolidation in the seed and agrochemical industry involving five of the so-called “Big Six” companies. Each of these deals raises complicated antitrust questions. Taken together, these deals propose to fundamentally reshape the agricultural industry. This hearing will help assess the competitive risks—and benefits—these transactions may present, both on their own and collectively.
Utah Solutions Summit Remarks
Sep 01 2016
Remarks on Occupational Licensing, The ALLOW Act
Jul 12 2016
As a result, economic success today increasingly depends on acquiring the right combination of credentials and licenses – bureaucratic status symbols that tend to require time and money that only the most privileged Americans can afford.