Block this mega merger

AT&T’s proposed buyout of Time Warner already has raised serious concerns from public interest groups and bipartisan lawmakers alike.

“Too much concentration of power in the hands of too few,” says Donald Trump.

“Less concentration, I think, is generally helpful, especially in the media,” says Tim Kaine.

They have good reason to be worried. This huge merger would put unprecedented media power — over the Internet, mobile phones, satellite TV, cable channels like CNN and HBO, movie studios and more — under one roof.

If this mega merger goes through, AT&T will be saddled with more than $350 billion in total liabilities. What does that mean for subscribers? Higher monthly bills. That’s not idle speculation: It’s exactly what AT&T did after merging with DirecTV. Higher broadband prices will put essential Internet access further out of reach for too many families.

Allowing these two media behemoths to combine would also give AT&T unprecedented market power to squeeze out competitors — both broadband providers and independent content makers. And AT&T would get a huge boost in political power — not just via its hordes of Washington lobbyists but also with control of CNN.

You’ll hear a lot of claims about this deal’s benefits, many of them the same that AT&T made for previous mergers.

AT&T simply can’t be trusted. It helped the National Security Agency spy on phone and Internet traffic for decades. It was caught last month overcharging its poorest customers for super slow Internet service.

And just this week, AT&T’s CEO said his opposition to “net neutrality” was “behind us” — even though the company is still suing to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s rules.

Policymakers in Washington are starting to realize what the rest of us already knew: These media mega mergers don’t serve anyone besides Wall Street bankers and overpaid media execs awaiting their golden parachutes.

There’s only one thing for the next administration to do: Block this deal.

Craig Aaron is the president, and Dana Floberg is a policy fellow, at Free Press, a non-profit advocacy group.