Department of Justice Fighting With AT&T Over Time Warner Aquisition

AT&T provides high speed Internet, voice, cable TV, DirecTV and is getting into security systems. Now they are looking to buy Time Warner Inc. This Time Warner is a different company from the Time Warner Cable that Charter bought a while back.

Shortly after the announcement Donald Trump, then still a candidate for President, said he would block the merger. In November of 2017 The U.S. Department of Justice decided to file a lawsuit to block the merger. Some say the lawsuit is a result of Trump's "war" with CNN, which is owned by Time Warner. Time Warner is the third largest entertainment company, after Comcast with NBC/Universal and Disney. Time Warner owns HBO, Cinemax, Turner Broadcasting and Warner Brothers.

Now, as a result of the Department of Justice filing a lawsuit against them, AT&T is giving itself some breathing room to finalize its $85 billion deal for Time Warner by extending the deadline for their merger to next year. AT&T requested a court date to be scheduled in February of next year for the Justice Department’s lawsuit. The DoJ wants the court date to be May 7th. The DoJ has said they are worried that AT&T will use Turner Broadcasting properties to broker an unfair advantage. Of course AT&T says they are willing to go to arbitration to sort out any issues with other video providers and distributers.

AT&T maintains that since Comcast's purchase of NBC/Universal of a few years ago was approved that the Justice Department shouldn't object to AT&T's purchase of Time Warner. The DoJ also approved the purchase of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks by Charter.

The purchase of Time Warner won't really affect the fact that AT&T provides Cable TV, Internet, voice, security systems and DirecTV but it does give them a bit of an advantage with all the content thay own with Time Warner.

AT&T Wireless Internet Launched

AT&T has added Fixed Wireless Internet as an option to its current bundles of AT&T high speed Internet, video and phones. Wireless Internet is now available a lot of locations across the US. It just became available in parts of 44 counties in rural Georgia.

Back in May of this year (2017), AT&T launched Fixed Wireless Internet service that delivers a wireless internet connection with download speeds of at least 10Mbps to homes and small businesses mostly in rural areas. With Fixed Wireless Internet, customers can do pretty much anything they could do with wired Internet. They can surf the Intenet, download and stream their favorite music, movies, and TV shows. The connection comes from a wireless tower to a fixed antenna on customers' homes or businesses. This is one of the best ways to deliver high speed internet to customers in rural and underserved areas. This is part of its commitment from taking part of the FCC Connect America Fund. They plan to reach over 67,000 locations in Georgia and more than 1.1 million locations around the country by 2020.

In addition to launching Fixed Wireless Internet in Georgia, AT&T has launched the service in the states of North and South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, California, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

Now, if you can't get AT&T's bundles of high speed Internet, phone and U-verse video in your area, Fixed Wireless Internet may be available.

AT&T and Time Warner - Maybe and Maybe Not

AT&T has been focusing on its core business of connecting people for over a hundred years. AT&T's bundles include Internet, telephone and cable TV. Recently they have been branching out. They bought DirecTV a few years ago and now they are trying to buy Time Warner. Not Time Warner Cable but the Time Warner that owns magazines and television channels like TNT, TBS and CNN along with Warner Brothers Studios.
Even though AT&T got its start with telephones they also offer AT&T double play bundles that don't always include phones.
But maybe they have been straying too far from cable TV, telephone and Internet. Last year, during his campaign for president, Donald Trump said he would not approve the merger of AT&T and Time Warner. Now the Department of Justice is throwing up obstacles to it.
Some news outlets have said that Time Warner would have to get rid of CNN to gain approval from the Justice Department. Despite a recent meeting between AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and the DoJ's antitrust chief Makan Delrahim, both the DoJ and AT&T have dismissed that idea.
Whether AT&T gets to buy Time Warner or not, they are already pretty big. They are the second biggest mobile provider and AT&T's U-verse TV with DirecTV is the largest television provider.

AT&T Bundles Can Include DirecTV

^{AT&T offers bundles. An AT&T Bundle can be U-verse TV plus Internet or U-verse TV plus voice or even Internet and voice. Really you can combine in a variety of combinations. You can even add in a mobile phone or have a AT&T bundle with Internet and DirecTV. Or all four. With DirecTV you can get 100s of video channels. AT&T Internet gives you access to over 10,000 AT&T WiFi hotspots across the country. With an AT&T Triple Play bundle with Internet, TV and home phone you can get unlimited local and long distance calling and almost two dozen calling features like call waiting, 3-way calling, caller ID, caller ID on the TV, and call forwarding. To help ensure online safety you can get AT&T Internet Security Suite - powered by industry leader McAfee®.}  

^{Now, of course with an AT&T double play Bundle with Internet and  U-verse TV you get options like all the best premium channels. We are talking HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, the Movie Channel, the Encore channels and more.  There is hardly a more trusted name in telecommunications. AT&T was just chosen to oversee FirstNet, working to connect first responders across the country with a safe, reliable communication system.}

AT&T, Time Warner and 5G

AT&T has been at the forefront of delivering communications services to customers since being founded by Alexander Graham Bell back in the 1800s. Since then they have expanded their services to include, in addition to AT&T's landline phone service, high Speed Internet, DirecTV, mobile phone plus a whole lot more. In addition to DirecTV, there is also AT&T's fiber optic Internet and U-Verse TV. You can actually get bundles including Internet, DirecTV and phone service.
AT&T announced that they were buying Time Warner Entertainment to better rival Comcast and Walt Disney Corporation. In addition to offering cable TV and Internet, Comcast owns NBCUniversal Studios and Walt Disney owns, well Walt Disney Studios. Disney doesn't deliver Internet connection yet but of course Comcast does. And Disney will soon be delivering its own OTT programming. With all the content owned by Time Warner and the delivery infrastructure already in place with DirecTV and AT&T's own U-verse TV, AT&T will have a lot of power. It is likely that bundles in the future will include wired Internet, wireless Internet, traditional cable like programming plus on demand options similar to Netflix, security and smart home systems
AT&T Tests 5G
AT&T has been testing 5G for a year and a half or so and has reached some pretty fast speeds in lab tests of the next-gen wireless technology. Speeds of up to 14 Gigabits per second. AT&T is in a race with other mobile and Internet providers to develop 5G technology to bring services like DirecTV Now and connection to Internet of Things devices to customers across the US. Most connected devices need to be connected wirelessly. AT&T says the first commercially available 5G should start rolling out in 2018 or 2019.
Much of the Internet of Things will be powered by 5G.

AT&T to provide emergency Internet and phone service

In addition to AT&T supplying bundles with Internet, landline phones, mobile phones and DirecTV to consumers AT&T also provides communication during emergencies. A few months ago AT&T won the bid to be the primary contractor to build out the nationwide emergency wireless Internet network for the federal government. Internet Service Provider AT&T is charged with building the antennas and towers for the whole network. FirstNet is the name of the program and the AT&T contract with FirstNet will be for 25 years.
Communications between first responders during emergencies is of major importance. Often traditional consumer phones and local Internet Service Providers can struggle to keep up with the extra demand that goes along with any big emergency situation. Having a dedicated first responder-only network should alleviate the congestion on the consumer wireless broadband networks while giving first responder's communications much needed security and reliability.
AT&T will be providing service to First Responders in addition to the AT&T Internet and DirecTV bundles already provided.