• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

This blog will pay for itself.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

When I was faster i was always behind.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Republicans do not trust women.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Economics / Free Markets Solve Everything / This Turkey is Cooked

This Turkey is Cooked

by @heymistermix.com|  November 25, 20119:32 am| 30 Comments

This post is in: Free Markets Solve Everything

FacebookTweetEmail

AT&T quietly announced yesterday that it will withdraw its FCC application to merge with T-Mobile and take a $4 billion charge against earnings for the breakup fee for the acquisition.

The withdrawal of the F.C.C. application “is a tacit acknowledgment by AT&T that this story is all but over,” said Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. “The fat lady hasn’t started singing yet, but she’s holding the mike, and the band is about to play.”

The efforts by the Justice Department’s antitrust division and the F.C.C. to block the merger reflect a reinvigoration of federal efforts to rein in excessive business practices after a prolonged period of deregulation that preceded the 2008 financial crisis.

The wireless market is already an uncompetitive oligopoly, and this merger would have made it worse. The Obama administration killed this one and deserve some credit, since it’s almost certain that a Republican administration would have not only approved, but consecrated, this plan.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « I’ve Got Your Button Right Here
Next Post: Free Toys. Because Everybody likes free, right? »

Reader Interactions

30Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    November 25, 2011 at 9:50 am

    I was thankful.

  2. 2.

    Schlemizel

    November 25, 2011 at 9:55 am

    As you noted, this is not going to make the mobile market better & it really would not have gotten any worse if it had gone through. American consumers are completely screwed already.

    But it might send a message to other megaliths that they will not always get their way in the destruction of American industry so its a plus for the administration.

  3. 3.

    Jay C

    November 25, 2011 at 10:04 am

    Ummm, … FOUR BILLION dollars as a “breakup fee”??

    Can somebody explain who gets paid this, and why?

  4. 4.

    arguingwithsignposts

    November 25, 2011 at 10:05 am

    @Jay C: IIRC, T-Mobile will get the funds.

  5. 5.

    debit

    November 25, 2011 at 10:14 am

    @arguingwithsignposts: That might make up for all the people who bolted from T-Mobile when the merger looked inevitable.

  6. 6.

    Anonymous At Work

    November 25, 2011 at 10:16 am

    Don’t forget the accidental “assist” by the paralegal who posted AT&T’s real rationale for the merger.

  7. 7.

    batgirl

    November 25, 2011 at 10:18 am

    The Obama administration killed this one and deserve some credit, since it’s almost certain that a Republican administration would have not only approved, but consecrated, this plan.

    But I’ve been told there is no difference between the Democratic and Republican parties! How can that be? /firebagger

  8. 8.

    Ooparts

    November 25, 2011 at 10:20 am

    I’m so glad to hear this. I’m a T-mobile customer, and I wasn’t looking forward to being consumed by Ma Bell.

  9. 9.

    MGB

    November 25, 2011 at 10:24 am

    This T-Mobile customer is quite happy that I won’t have to deal with AT&T. Now when can I get a damn iPhone on my T-Mobile plan (grumble, grumble). And yes, I know I could get a jailbroken phone.

  10. 10.

    Wilson Heath

    November 25, 2011 at 10:24 am

    Learning that there really is some functioning anti-trust law is like learning in my mid 30s that Santa is real. Who would have thought it still possible.

  11. 11.

    Woodrowfan

    November 25, 2011 at 10:24 am

    Ed Schultz is gonna be PISSED.

  12. 12.

    gbear

    November 25, 2011 at 10:29 am

    Another thankful T-Mobile customer.

  13. 13.

    carpeduum

    November 25, 2011 at 11:00 am

    They saw the writing on the wall.

  14. 14.

    Suffern ACE

    November 25, 2011 at 11:59 am

    @MGB: T-Mobile actually has one of those functioning and fast 4G networks that I’ve been hearing so much about for the past few years? I thought that was just some kind of myth available for 2 blocks in Omaha.

  15. 15.

    Creature_NYC

    November 25, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Glad in the larger sense, but pissed because I was hoping the merger would help with my crappy AT&T service. Oh well.

  16. 16.

    Michael G

    November 25, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    They announced this on Thanksgiving? Can’t bury it more than that, I guess.

  17. 17.

    burnspbesq

    November 25, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    While it’s nice to see that there is some level of commitment to enforcing the antitrust laws, this does no cell phone user any good.

    The inescapable reality is that due to the sheer geographic size of the United States, it takes tens of billions of dollars to build out a national network that is even remotely close to state of the art. T-Mobile doesn’t have the money, and Deutsche Telekom has made it clear that it isn’t making those funds available. The T-Mobile death sprial simply continues, and eventually it will be gone.

    Americans are never going to have cell phone service as good as (to cite only one example) South Korea’s, because they will never pay the monthly charges necessary to support the level of capex that is required. Deal with it.

  18. 18.

    Brandon

    November 25, 2011 at 12:52 pm

    @Schlemizel:
    this is not going to make the mobile market better & it really would not have gotten any worse if it had gone through.

    Seriously? T-Mobile is the only provider that currently offers unlimited data. AT&T thinks 500MB of data per month is reasonable for $30. By contrast, T-Mobile recently had a promotion with unlimited voice, text and data for $60/mo. I cannot think of a single T-Mobile customer that thought their service was going to improve.

  19. 19.

    losgatosca

    November 25, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    $4 Billion for no good purpose. AT&T shareholders gave to be so happy.

    The number of new ways that corporate managers ‘manage’ to destroy shareholder value seems to be limitless.

  20. 20.

    Brandon

    November 25, 2011 at 1:08 pm

    @burnspbesq: Americans are never going to have cell phone service as good as (to cite only one example) South Korea’s, because they will never pay the monthly charges necessary to support the level of capex that is required. Deal with it.

    Just more par for the course ignorance from my favorite internet lawyer. This comment is just about as bad as all the stupid you were posting about Penn State the other day. You may want to consider Indonesia as another example. They have high market penetration resulting healthy competition from 6 providers focussed on providing service to different income demographics, with a 7th provider getting Saudi financing for building out a mobile network focussed on middle class urban users. Even more amazing, you get 3G service from no less than 3 providers in both the Malukus and Kalimantan. Why? Because the Indonesian government requires them to as a condition of providing a license. The issue has nothing do with anything other than regulation of the market creating barriers to entry to protect current providers from competition so that they can extract economic rent. Why should any provider invest in their networks when they have an oligopoly position government ensured by the government? And for the record, I do not recall that you ever responded to DougJ’s question of whether you were paid to troll here.

  21. 21.

    Brachiator

    November 25, 2011 at 1:53 pm

    This is very odd. Could AT&T come back with another offer? The German company that owns T-Mobile desperately wants to unload it. Is T-Mobile compatible with Sprint or another company? No matter what happens with this merger, I do not see the company surviving for long.

    As to the notion that Americans will not pay the monthly charges necessary, this just doesn’t wash. We have, for example, that memo that suggested that AT&T could improve and expand its network for less than it was offering for T-Mobile. And there is an ongoing discussion among knowledgeable tech heads that a lot of the noise over charges and data caps has little to do with the actual costs of providing service.

    And the bottom line is that, barring some new revolutionary technological change, the demand for Internet and streaming services is only going to increase, and companies that can meet that demand will be sitting pretty.

  22. 22.

    burnspbesq

    November 25, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    @Brandon:

    AT&T thinks 500MB of data per month is reasonable for $30.

    Say what, now? You need to shop harder. My $30/month data plan for iPhone gets me 4 gigs and the ability to use my phone as a hotspot.

  23. 23.

    burnspbesq

    November 25, 2011 at 3:28 pm

    @Brandon:

    And for the record, I do not recall that you ever responded to DougJ’s question of whether you were paid to troll here.

    For the record, when you start posting intelligently, I might deign to tell you. In the meantime, stick it.

  24. 24.

    JGabriel

    November 25, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    Yip yip, hooray!

    Among companies I despise, AT&T is down there with lowest scum like Verizon and tobacco companies. I know T-Mobile isn’t perfect, but I’ve always had relatively good experiences with them, and I’m glad the FCC’s actions convinced AT&T to put the kibosh on this merger, while simultaneously putting $4B in T-Mobile’s hands to (hopefully?) build out their network a little more.

    .

  25. 25.

    JGabriel

    November 25, 2011 at 5:11 pm

    @Brachiator:

    We have, for example, that memo that suggested that AT&T could improve and expand its network for less than it was offering for T-Mobile.

    Which, with good reason, no one believed. The merger would have created a duopoly of AT&T and Verizon. When you have a duopoly, the companies don’t even have to meet with each to collude on pricing — they can just check each other’s price lists. As long as neither starts a price war, they can each maximize their profits through price gouging.

    .

  26. 26.

    slag

    November 25, 2011 at 5:57 pm

    Huzzah!

  27. 27.

    Ruckus

    November 25, 2011 at 7:05 pm

    @Brandon:
    To your last point, we may now have at least some more circumstantial evidence.

  28. 28.

    Cap'n Magic

    November 25, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    It’s not over till its over-AT&T is saving its firepower until they officially throw in the towel with the DOJ.

  29. 29.

    Herbal Infusion Bagger

    November 28, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    Good. That means the T-mobile adverts with the hawt tall brunette woman in purple will continue.

    Oh yeah, and competition.

  30. 30.

    Herbal Infusion Bagger

    November 28, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    “AT&T thinks 500MB of data per month is reasonable for $30.”

    Some of us got grandfathered in with the unlimited plan. Yay us.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Image by HinTN (5/22/25)

Recent Comments

  • sab on Update: Kilmar Abrego Garcia: ‘Keep Him Where He Is’ (May 22, 2025 @ 4:14pm)
  • Ruckus on Update: Kilmar Abrego Garcia: ‘Keep Him Where He Is’ (May 22, 2025 @ 4:14pm)
  • sab on Proof of Live – Ohio Meetup (May 22, 2025 @ 4:06pm)
  • Ruckus on Update: Kilmar Abrego Garcia: ‘Keep Him Where He Is’ (May 22, 2025 @ 4:06pm)
  • Belafon on Update: Kilmar Abrego Garcia: ‘Keep Him Where He Is’ (May 22, 2025 @ 4:03pm)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!