Thread by @doctorow

AT&T epitomizes the failure of America's corporate regulation. After the company spent millions on dirty tricks to help @AjitPaiFCC kill Net Neutrality, it went on a stock-buyback spree while reducing its network improvement budget.

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Capex continued to suffer, even after the company got a $20B tax cut from the #TaxScam.

One thing the company DID spend on was acquisitions, going on a buying spree that included acquiring Time-Warner and Dish.

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Randall Stephenson, the CEO who oversaw this plan, got paid $32m for his trouble, even as the company haemorrhaged money and subscribers, as his plan to "synergize" telcoms and entertainment failed spectacularly.

pluralistic.net/2020/03/13/go-…

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Stephenson collected a golden parachute and bailed on AT&T, but the synergy plan lives on, merging every strand of AT&T's monopolistic behavior.

They're going to exempt HBO Max from broadband bills, while charging for rivals like Disney+ and Netflix.

theverge.com/2020/6/2/21277…

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Disney has bet the farm on Disney+: without theme parks, movie theaters, hotels or cruise ships, the company is hoping to leverage a $6/month teaser rate for subscriptions into a position so dominant that cable operators won't dare mess with them.

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This is Netflix's plan as well: to be so well-loved by cable subscribers that cable operators won't dare to mess with them.

variety.com/2018/digital/n…

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This is not a good plan.

AT&T is desperate, cord-cutting is epidemic, the company has a massive overhang from its attempt to create a vertical monopoly, and it has never, ever been shy about making its customers angry at it.

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As HBO Max boss Tony Concalves told @TheVerge: "The network is the plumbing, and the content is the water. And you’re seeing water and the plumbing kind of coming together."

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This is going to get ugly.

eof/