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TECHNOLOGYThursday 22 March 2018
TV future at stake: Opening arguments Thursday in AT&T case
By MAE ANDERSON "On one hand, the govern- nament. services like Netflix, Ama- AT&T could withhold Time
AP Technology Writer ment is saying this is the Old The government sued to zon and others. It denies Warner programming from
NEW YORK (AP) — Opening World and AT&T Time War- block the deal this past the government's assertion other distributors or offer it
arguments are set for Thurs- ner is saying this is the New November. Opening argu- that the merger will limit more cheaply only on its
day in the federal gov- World," said Larry Downes, ments had been expected choice and lead to higher own network.
ernment's efforts to block senior industry and innova- Wednesday in Washington, prices for consumers. The Justice Department is
AT&T's efforts to gobble tion fellow at Georgetown which was experiencing a "Blocking the transaction similarly dismissive of the no-
up Time Warner in a case University. "They're argu- snowstorm. The trial started would deny consumers tion that the mega-merger
that could shape how you ing completely different Monday with preliminary these benefits and shield could promote competi-
get — and how much you views of how the content matters. large, vertically integrated tion to big internet players
pay for — streaming TV and industries look right now, let AT&T'S CASE firms such as Comcast/ such as Google and Netflix,
movies. alone in the future." Almost 60 percent of Amer- NBCU, Netflix, Google, Am- noting that most people
AT&T says it needs to buy In October 2016, AT&T of- icans still get TV primarily azon, and Facebook from still watch TV via traditional
Time Warner to compete fered to buy Time Warner from traditional cable ser- new competition on their cable boxes.
with the likes of Amazon, for $86 billion. Dallas-based vices, according to a Pew own turf," the company THE OUTCOME
Netflix and Google in the AT&T Inc. provides wireless, Research Center report. wrote in its pre-trial brief. "The real fundamental
rapidly evolving world of broadband and DirecTV But that is starkly divided THE GOVERNMENT'S CASE thing this trial will decide is
video entertainment. The satellite services via phone by age. About 61 percent The government brush- how much room does the
Justice Department's an- and TV. New York-head- of people aged 18 to 29 es off the argument that media industry have to use
titrust lawyers worry that quartered Time Warner primarily use streaming ser- the proposed purchase is scale to combat the inter-
consumers will end up pay- owns the HBO, TNT, TBS and vices — compared with 10 about offering consumers net giants that are eating
ing more to watch their fa- CNN networks and sports percent of people aged 50 more choice. Instead, it their lunch right now," said
vorite shows, whether on a programing including Ma- to 64. says, the deal will lead to B. Riley FBR analyst Barton
TV screen, smartphone or jor League Baseball's play- AT&T says the merger is less competition and inno- Crockett.
tablet. offs and the NCAA's March necessary to compete as vation while bringing high- If the judge blocks the
Madness basketball tour- more people use streaming er prices for consumers, as deal, a chill over media
ROOMS FOR RENT per night in deal-making is likely. Big in-
the Center of Aruba with private ternet players like Amazon
bedroom, WIFI, TV by Cable or Google could decide to
and Private Parking. keep building up their own
Since Usd .30 per night. content offerings rather
whatsapp 5600312 than growing them by ac-
Email: quisitions.
lasaresidence@gmail.com But if the court lets the deal
go through, it could easily
spur a wave of similar deals
as other distributors — think
major cable, satellite and
phone companies — bulk
up with entertainment pur-
chases in order to compete
against rivals born on the
internet. A middle-ground
compromise is also possible
if AT&T loses this round. The
company could agree to
sell off some businesses or
comply with other restric-
tions in order to win ap-
proval for the merger.q
Orbitz says legacy travel site
likely hacked, affecting 880K
This Feb. 12, 2015 file photo shows signage for travel booking 2017. not hacked, however. The
site Orbitz outside the building that houses its headquarters, in The current Orbitz.com company said evidence
Chicago. website was not involved in suggests that an attacker
the incident. Orbitz is now may have accessed infor-
Associated Press owned by Expedia Inc. of mation stored on the plat-
Belleview, Washington. form — which was for both
CHICAGO (AP) — Orb- ing the personal informa- Orbitz said Tuesday about consumers and business
itz says one of its older tion of people who made 880,000 payment cards partners — between Oct.
websites may have been purchases online between were impacted. 1, 2017 and Dec. 22, 2017.
hacked, potentially expos- Jan. 1, 2016 and Dec. 22, Data that was likely ex- It said it discovered the
posed includes name, ad- data breach March 1.
dress, payment card in- Orbitz is offering those im-
formation, date of birth, pacted a year of free cred-
phone number, email ad- it monitoring and identity
dress and gender. Social protection service in coun-
Security information was tries where available.q
