Communications Daily Special Report Finds Risks and Rewards of M&A, Tech Change

Articles in the following Communications Daily Special Report explore those and other side effects -- both positive and negative -- of industry M&A and technological change in the U.S. and Europe. Some of the trends clearly have been bad for consumers. RadioShack, which filed for bankruptcy and transferred some assets to Sprint, is among the companies that faced customer upset on privacy policies over its now-aborted plan to sell customer information. Katie Rucke reports that other companies may be in the same bind if they are acquired, unless they make changes now (see 1508060009). Sprint didn't buy any information about customers from RadioShack, said a spokesman for the carrier.

And in Europe, some wireless-service prices have been rising and Dugie Standeford reports that some fear they will increase more with further consolidation, (see 1508030002). That has led to more regulatory scrutiny. In the U.S., customer satisfaction for pay-TV and broadband services is lower than for any other U.S. industry, experts tell Jonathan Make. They partly blame M&A (see 1507220074). Amid concern about broadband concentration, the FCC and Justice Department signaled that they would try to block Comcast from buying Time Warner Cable, scuttling that deal worth about $66 billion but then spurring Charter Communications to agree to buy TWC.

In Charter's deals, broadband likely will play a key role in regulatory reviews, Matt Daneman reports (see 1508140001">1508140001). But Charter took the teeth out of some complaints made on other deals from the likes of Netflix by agreeing to certain Internet conditions before seeking government approval. Among telcos, mid-sized carrier acquisitions are credited by some with boosting broadband deployment and bringing greater wireline focus to the benefit of customers, David Kaut reports (see 1508140026).

Consolidation has affected others besides consumers. For law firms, M&A and technological change have transformed their practices, Howard Buskirk reports (see 1508140023): It's more competitive, clients are fewer and it can be harder for young attorneys to establish their practices. On Capitol Hill, M&A has kept lawmakers busy scrutinizing deals, John Hendel reports (see 1508140030">1508140030). And consolidation coupled with other changes also has affected state regulators. Samantha Madison reports that their role is shrinking when it comes to reviewing telecom deals and in some states it never was great to begin with (see 1508140026">1508140026).

The broadcast TV industry is facing a unique force for consolidation in the incentive auction, Monty Tayloe reports (see 1508140029). Some of those that will remain will see opportunity after the spectrum is sold to the FCC by broadcasters and then bought by wireless carriers, while others fear a loss of the little diversity remaining in broadcast TV. Meanwhile, as other companies combine, Jimm Phillips reports, cybersecurity increasingly is a consideration because merging companies want to avoid cyberattacks and the hit their reputations will take in consumers' minds (see 1508140033">1508140033).

M&A isn't all bad, though. Some believe that the U.S. should allow more wireless consolidation and that the Obama administration's preventing AT&T from buying T-Mobile and Sprint from joining with T-Mobile was a mistake, reports Howard Buskirk (see 1508130027">1508130027). But still others, including those representing the likes of Sprint and T-Mobile, said wireless consolidation has hurt consumers and carriers alike.