Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

DOJ Sues DirecTV as 'Ringleader' in LA Sportsnet 'Collusion'

by Karl Bode

Wednesday Nov 02 2016 14:23 EDT

The Department of Justice has sued AT&T-owned DirecTV for being the "ringleader" in an antitrust-violating ring involving the LA Dodgers and its SportsNet LA channel. Many Dodgers Fans in Los Angeles haven't been able to watch their favorite team for three years because the team's channel, co-owned by Time Warner Cable (now Charter), refused to seriously negotiate with competing pay TV providers. To help pay for its $8.35 billion deal with the Dodgers, Time Warner Cable raised rates on competing pay TV providers in 2014.

Competitors like AT&T, DirecTV, Cox and others balked at the company's rumored $5 per subscriber asking price for the channel.

And while Time Warner Cable's greed may have gotten the ball rolling, the DOJ's complaint notes that DirecTV worked with Cox, Charter (before it owned Time Warner Cable) and DirecTV (before it was owned by AT&T) to "unlawfully exchange competitively-sensitive information" to pressure Time Warner Cable in violation of antitrust rules.

"As the complaint explains, Dodgers fans were denied a fair competitive process when DIRECTV orchestrated a series of information exchanges with direct competitors that ultimately made consumers less likely to be able to watch their hometown team,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Sallet of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.

"Competition, not collusion, best serves consumers and that is especially true when, as with pay-television providers, consumers have only a handful of choices in the marketplace."

Boom. There it is

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/DOJ-Sues-DirecTV-as-Ringleader-in-LA-Sportsnet-Collusion-138251