Netflix officials urged the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to reject the pending $48 billion merger of AT&T Inc and DirecTV in a recent meeting, according to regulatory disclosures posted on Tuesday.
“The proposed merger would make AT&T the largest (multichannel video programing distributor) in the country, and potentially lead to its becoming the largest (Internet service provider) in the country as well,” Netflix representatives told more than 20 FCC staff in the meeting on April 30.
“Such market power creates new incentives and abilities to harm entities that AT&T perceives as competitive threats, and will exacerbate the anticompetitive behavior in which AT&T has already engaged.”
