Prisoners of Cable Michelle Meyer MBA604 November 13, 2016 Ron Myszkowski Prisoners of Cable In his article, Prisoners of Cable-Why we can’t break free from our TV overlords, (Thompson, 2012) Derek Thompson discusses the future of cable television. Thompson explains how the cable companies have bundled their services they provide to include the channels you can view. While doing this, Thompson explains many people get things they do not need or want. However, based on the numbers still purchasing cable television, people are willing to pay for this entertainment. Thompson also states the people who pay for cable are, in effect, paying for the cable-cutters to be able to watch their shows over the Internet via applications …show more content…
“Time Warner — not to be confused with Time Warner Cable, which sold itself to Charter Communications earlier this year — owns HBO, meaning that AT&T could soon have the rights to “Game of Thrones,” “Westworld” and “True Detective.”” (Fung & Harwell, 2016) Additionally, AT&T would be “gaining control over hugely valuable brands spanning television, film, sports, news, video games and mobile and residential Internet service.” (Fung & Harwell, 2016) But this deal might meet the same demise as the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal. The Justice Department and the FCC are looking into this merger also. AT&T already purchased DirecTV and with this merger, they could “create one of the most powerful combinations of content and distribution America has ever seen.” (Fung & Harwell, …show more content…
With the capabilities AT&T currently has with its Internet services, this merger offers multiple possibilities of watching the shows from your phone, computer, and TV. And with this merger comes the addition of video games. I have been a long time customer of AT&T, going back to when they were the only company to offer home telephone service. The government came in and broke them up because they felt AT&T had a monopoly. Now we have moved to the cellular world and cable. This merger could be seen as another monopoly. Do I think this deal will go through? Doubtful as the Justice Department and FCC will want to spend some time looking into this, just as they wanted to do with the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal. Regardless, I will continue my business with AT&T and hope the merger does go