It was just a matter of time before AT&t started leveraging its position the market, the precise thing that the leadership claimed it wasn’t going to be done. I understand that the urge to produce bigger profits overpowers the rules and the promises that were made, but did they really have to start doing this so early, while the merger can still be undone? This behavior just provides the DOJ with more facts in their quest to overrule the Time Warner acquisition.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/opinion/att-hbo-antitrust.html