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AT&T exec: We won't work with Comcast to hurt competition

Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images for Advertising Week New York

John T. Stankey, Senior EVP of the AT&T/Time Warner merger said that if AT&T and Time Warner were to merge, it wouldn't be in the combined company's best interest to work with another vertically-integrated company, such as Comcast/NBCUniversal, to together restrict their content from digital distribution competitors, or "skinny bundles."

Why it matters: The DOJ has argued that the merger will give two big companies with both content and distribution services an incentive to team up and simultaneously hold back their content from upcoming internet skinny bundle rivals, like YouTube TV or Dish's Sling TV.

"I don't even like Comcast."
— John Stankey

Stankey argued that AT&T is better positioned to leverage its massive mobile network to beef up its video business than it is to restrict its video content from other providers.

"We want to get everything out there," he said. "We don't want to play their game. We want to figure out how we use our mobile network to change the game."

AT&T Time Warner merger