WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) made the following statement on Monday, May 19, in reaction to AT&T’s proposed deal to purchase DirecTV for almost $50 billion:
“I’m skeptical that this deal is in consumers’ best interest,” said Sen. Franken. “We’re witnessing a major transformation of the telecom industry—and it’s going in exactly the wrong direction. We’re moving toward an industry with fewer competitors—where corporations are getting bigger and bigger and gaining more and more control over the distribution of information.
“This hurts innovation, and it’s bad for consumers, who have been getting squeezed by higher bills. I’m going to press regulators to scrutinize this deal, and I want to see hearings in Congress as well.”
Sen. Franken has long been fighting to give a voice to the millions of consumers in Minnesota and across the country who are being squeezed by cable and Internet costs. He’s been a leader in questioning Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable, which was announced earlier this year. In addition, Sen. Franken also fought against the Comcast–NBC Universal merger and the AT&T–T-Mobile merger.
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Preceding provided by Senator Al Franken