Favre4Ever+ 4,476 Posted October 23, 2016 AT&T has reached a deal to acquire Time Warner for more than $85 billion, a blockbuster deal that fuses a mobile giant with an entertainment conglomerate, carrying with it the potential to reshape the media landscape. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the deal. The two companies on Saturday jointly announced the deal, unanimously approved by both boards, that will see the mobile company pay $107.50 per share in a cash and stock transaction. The deal represents a marriage of Time Warner's limitless movie and television empire with AT&T's 315 million wireless subscribers. http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/t-reaches-deal-buy-time-warner-more-80b-sources-n671226?cid=sm_fb Just what we need... I don't like it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RazorStar 4,025 Posted October 23, 2016 Well we're heading towards a point where everything is going to be run a few omni-corporations. May as well speed up the process. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blotsfan 2,112 Posted October 23, 2016 Given that AT&T also just bought DirectTv, I think the government will block this just like when they tried to get Comcast. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
seanbrock 1,684 Posted October 23, 2016 Given that AT&T also just bought DirectTv, I think the government will block this just like when they tried to get Comcast.I certainly hope so. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sparty 110 Posted October 24, 2016 (edited) Black and Decker just bought out a couple companies, too. Monopolies aren't illegal anymore apparently. Edited October 24, 2016 by Sparty Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sarge+ 3,436 Posted October 24, 2016 Black and Decker just bought out a couple companies, too. Monopolies aren't illegal anymore apparently. Monopolies are only truly illegal when they are inconvenient for or in direct competition with the government. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zack_of_Steel+ 3,014 Posted October 25, 2016 I hate this game. (Life) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blotsfan 2,112 Posted October 25, 2016 So I didn't realize time warner and time warner cable are no longer connected, with the latter not being involved in this deal. It seems more likely to be approved, but not as bad as it sounded. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zack_of_Steel+ 3,014 Posted October 25, 2016 (edited) AT&T Is Spying on Americans for Profit, New Documents Reveal The telecom giant is doing NSA-style work for law enforcement—without a warrant—and earning millions of dollars a year from taxpayers. Kenneth Lipp 10.25.16 12:13 AM ET Hemisphere is a secretive program run by AT&T that searches trillions of call records and analyzes cellular data to determine where a target is located, with whom he speaks, and potentially why. ... In 2013, Hemisphere was revealed by The New York Times and described only within a Powerpoint presentation made by the Drug Enforcement Administration. The Times described it as a “partnership” between AT&T and the U.S. government; the Justice Department said it was an essential, and prudently deployed, counter-narcotics tool. However, AT&T’s own documentation—reported here by The Daily Beast for the first time—shows Hemisphere was used far beyond the war on drugs to include everything from investigations of homicide to Medicaid fraud. Hemisphere isn’t a “partnership” but rather a product AT&T developed, marketed, and sold at a cost of millions of dollars per year to taxpayers. No warrant is required to make use of the company’s massive trove of data, according to AT&T documents, only a promise from law enforcement to not disclose Hemisphere if an investigation using it becomes public. ... AT&T stores details for every call, text message, Skype chat, or other communication that has passed through its infrastructure, retaining many records dating back to 1987, according to the Times 2013 Hemisphere report. The scope and length of the collection has accumulated trillions of records and is believed to be larger than any phone record database collected by the NSA under the Patriot Act, the Times reported. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/25/at-t-is-spying-on-americans-for-profit.html Edited October 25, 2016 by Zack_of_Steel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blotsfan 2,112 Posted October 25, 2016 I'm not saying its right, I'm not saying they shouldn't be punished. But at this point, you have to assume every single thing you do online is going to be logged somewhere. Because I promise you, AT&T is not the only company (or entity in general) to be doing this. Having any other mindset is just foolish at this point. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bucman 891 Posted October 26, 2016 They not gonna find anything besides my love for quadriplegic midget porn Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zack_of_Steel+ 3,014 Posted October 26, 2016 "It's been happening forever, who cares that one is doing far worse than the others? I'm fine with the status quo." Same logic being applied to the presidential race. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites