AT&T strike?

[poplar1]

3000+ AT&T Techs (CWA) threaten to strike in Atlanta. Some of the issues are increased health insurance costs, forced overtime, and work done by subcontractors.

[twocvbloke]

Once upon a time, workers unions were set up to keep employees from being exploited and treated like dirt, nowadays, they're abused to exploit employers and treat them like dirt, after all, look what happened with GM and Chrysler having to be bailed out to keep them in business due to the unions milking the companies for all they had...

[Dan/Panther]

We have satellite service here called DirectV. I heard they are merging with AT&T, Anyone else hear this ?
BTW, I have Dish network.
D/P

[TelePlay]

We have satellite service here called DirectV. I heard they are merging with AT&T, Anyone else hear this ?
BTW, I have Dish network.
D/P

2:16 PM - 24 Jul 2015

"Federal regulators have officially approved AT&T's $48.5 billion acquisition of satellite TV provider DirecTV, AT&T announced today. AT&T says that the merger makes the company the largest provider of pay television services in the world with 26 million US subscribers.

To get Federal Communications Commission approval, AT&T agreed to broaden its Internet services in rural areas; expand its gigabit fiber broadband to 12.5 million users; allow customers to access competing video services over the Internet; and refrain from using anticompetitive usage caps.

The FCC has recently taken a stronger stance against telcos, reclassifying broadband Internet as a public utility and blocking Comcast's acquisition of Time Warner Cable, among other moves. But its approval of the AT&T-DirecTV deal shows that it isn't going to obstruct industry consolidation entirely.

The merger is a spot of good news for AT&T, which revealed in its latest earnings report this week that it had lost customers for most of its consumer-facing services. Last quarter, the company shed 200,000 wireless phone customers, 652,000 fixed line phone customers, 136,000 DSL customers, and 22,000 U-Verse video subscribers. But what it's lost in its more traditional businesses it has more than made up for in new viewers. Maybe the second "T" in AT&T should now stand for television."

[compubit]

...Last quarter, the company shed 200,000 wireless phone customers, 652,000 fixed line phone customers, 136,000 DSL customers, and 22,000 U-Verse video subscribers. But what it's lost in its more traditional businesses it has more than made up for in new viewers. Maybe the second "T" in AT&T should now stand for television."

My parents are among the fixed line and U-Verse subscribers going bye-bye...  They got fed up with pixelating video, and switched to Time Warner cable, and as of now, couldn't be happier - Twice as many channels, 10x the internet speed, and unlimited US calling for almost half the price.  Plus they're no longer limited to 2 HD channels at a time,  house wide... (They also had AT&T/Southwestern Bell analog phone service - U-Verse as implemented in their neighborhood didn't support phone lines...)

TWC - as much as people complain - just works... (which is what my parents want!) - but still 500 channels and nothing worth watching at times...

Jim