[ [link removed] ]Block the CBS-Viacom merger

Petition to the Department of Justice Antitrust Division:
"Block the CBS-Viacom merger."

Add your name:

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition ►

Dear John,

[ [link removed] ]Block the CBS-Viacom
merger

After Disney and FOX merged, the combined company laid off thousands of
workers. In the wake of the Comcast-TimeWarner merger, the company broke
its promises, kept prices high and made it harder for customers to access
rivals' content on the internet. Every time media companies merger,
streaming prices go up.^1,2,3

Now, another big media merger looms: CBS and Viacom recently announced
plans to combine into one company.^4 The result – as always – will be
higher prices, fewer jobs, more corporate control and less choice.

We still have a chance to stop this merger – but we need to act fast.

[ [link removed] ]Tell the Department of Justice: Block the CBS-Viacom merger. Click here
to sign the petition.

CBS and Viacom executives will receive massive pay raises and bonuses as a
result of the merger.^5 The CEO of Viacom, for example, will get a 155%
raise – to more than $31 million each year. Company executives make a big
deal about how the companies need to merge to survive against ever-larger
rivals. But behind all the pretty talking points, this is one real reason
that corporate consolidation is so popular with the investor class:
Well-heeled executives get millions in payoffs while regular workers see
layoffs.

Media consolidation is already hurting our democracy and consumer choices.
AT&T bought DirectTV and then Warner Media. Disney purchased FOX. A small
handful of corporate media companies control movies, TV and news reporting
– not to mention cable television and mobile and wired internet access.
CBS and Viacom will not be as large as these other corporate behemoths,
but every single media merger creates ever-more incentives to grow and
combine. Executives get richer, corporations become more powerful and we
lose.

After years of conservative lobbying, regulators rarely ask about layoffs
or lower wages when evaluating mergers. Regulators allow mergers to go
through with small conditions – promises that are often broken or changes
that don’t work. Antitrust officials too often ignore evidence that
monopolies and massive companies result in higher prices, lower wages, job
losses and environmental damage.^6,7 Just as important, less media
diversity means a less-informed public and worse political outcomes – one
new study found corporate consolidation leads to more right-wing slant in
the news.^8

Consolidation in the media and telecommunications industries is not just
harmful to our economy, it is simply bad for our democracy. We need to
fight every single merger that comes along – including the CBS-Viacom
merger right now.

Tell the Department of Justice: Block the CBS-Viacom merger. Click below
to sign the petition:

[ [link removed] ][link removed]

Thank you for speaking out,

Heidi Hess, Co-Director
[ [link removed] ]CREDO Action from Working Assets

Add your name:

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition ►

References:

 1. Consumers Union, "[ [link removed] ]'Comcast:' A history of broken promises," March
1, 2014.
 2. David Sims, "[ [link removed] ]Why Viacom and CBS Had to Merge to Survive," The
Atlantic, Aug. 19, 2019.
 3. Jared Newman, "[ [link removed] ]Sorry, cord-cutters: The CBS-Viacom merger will
make streaming pricier," FastCompany, Aug. 13, 2019.
 4. Sims, "[ [link removed] ]Why Viacom and CBS Had to Merge to Survive."
 5. Benjamin Mullen, "[ [link removed] ]Viacom and CBS Executives to Earn Big Bucks in
Merger Deal," The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 19, 2019.
 6. David Dayen, “[ [link removed] ]Bring Back Antitrust,” The American Prospect, Nov.
9, 2015.
 7. David Dayen, “[ [link removed] ]Why Are Drug Monopolies Running Amok? Meet Deborah
Feinstein.” The Intercept, Dec. 16, 2015.
 8. Edmund Andrews, "[ [link removed] ]Media Consolidation Means Less Local News, More
Right Wing Slant," Stanford Business, July 30, 2019.

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