TE||Green light，amber warning
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导读
AT&T收购时代华纳的原因
（墙裂推荐）
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听力|精读|翻译|词组
Green light，amber warning
绿灯，黄色警告
英文部分选自经济学人Leaders版块
AT&T and Time Warner are cleared to merge
美国电话电报公司（AT&T）与时代华纳公司（Time Warner）实现无障碍合并
More consolidation will follow. Consumers ought to worry
新一轮大规模并购浪潮来袭。消费者理应发愁
AT&T has already had one starring role in American antitrust history. Its enforced break-up in 1984, into a group of regional firms and a long-distance carrier, helped unleash competition in the country’s telecoms industry. This week AT&T was centre-stage in another momentous antitrust decision, one that threatens a much worse outcome for consumers.
AT&T曾是美国反垄断史上的主角。1984年，AT&T被强制分拆出一个继承了母公司名称的新AT&T公司(专营长途电话业务)和七个本地电话公司(即“贝尔七兄弟”)，美国电信业从此进入了竞争时代。本周，AT&T又成为另一个重大的反垄断决议的焦点。对消费者来说，这个决议有可能导致一个更糟糕的结果。
On June 12th Richard Leon, a federal judge, ruled that the firm, which has largely been put back together in recent decades, can acquire Time Warner, an entertainment giant. Assuming no appeal by the Department of Justice (DoJ), which brought the lawsuit against the merger, the deal will create a colossus able to sell HBO, CNN and other TV networks over its own wireless and satellite connections. A frenzy of deal making is expected, as other infrastructure firms join forces with those that create content. Comcast, the largest broadband provider in America, has entered a bidding war with Disney for much of 21st Century Fox. Verizon, AT&T’s arch-rival in wireless, may move to buy CBS and perhaps Viacom.
6月12日，联邦大法官理查莱昂（Richard Leon）裁决AT&T可以收购娱乐巨头Time Warner，在最近的数十年间，AT&T已经在很大程度上恢复了原样。假若司法部不再上诉，即不对此项购案提起司法诉讼，那么此项交易将会创造出一个巨头，能利用自己的无线和卫星连接来售卖HBO, CNN以及其它电视台的内容产品。当其它基础设施公司与那些进行内容创作的企业联合时，便会产生一系列的交易热潮。全美最大的宽带供应商康卡斯特（Comcast）已经与迪士尼（Disney）展开了一场争夺21世纪福克斯（21st Century Fox）竞标战。而AT&T在无线网络领域的宿敌威瑞森（Verizon）可能会继而收购哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS），又或者是维亚康姆公司（Viacom）。
The ruling was a humiliation for the DoJ. Some see this as deserved comeuppance for a politicised decision to oppose the merger. It is true that antitrust authorities very rarely oppose “vertical mergers”, in which firms in different parts of the supply chain combine. And Donald Trump is famously unimpressed with CNN’s coverage of him. If the DoJ’s stance was indeed swayed by Mr Trump, that is obviously wrong—but not in itself a reason to wave the deal through.
该裁决对司法部来说是个耻辱。有些人认为这是反对合并的政治性决定而应受的报应。诚然反垄断当局很少反对供应链上不同部分公司之间的“纵向合并”。而特朗普对CNN对他的报道的漠视也是众所周知的。如果司法部的立场确实受特朗普的影响，那显然是错误的——但这本身并不成为通过该交易的理由。
In fact, the judge used different arguments. He accepted the case made by AT&T and Time Warner that the media landscape has changed. Conventional firms face fiercer competition from tech giants—the likes of Netflix are winning viewers directly rather than via cable-TV packages, as Facebook and Google are taking ad revenues. Mr Leon was also unpersuaded by the DoJ’s argument that AT&T would threaten to withhold its content from rival distributors in order to raise prices.
事实上，这位法官持有不同的观点。他接受AT&T 和时代华纳的案例，认为媒体的格局已经发生变化。传统公司面对着来自科技巨人更激烈的竞争，像Netflix这样的公司比有线电视套餐更能直接地赢得观众，同样地Facebook和谷歌都在获取广告收入。而对于司法部关于AT&T会保留自己的内容产品不放给对手发行商而借此涨价的威胁论，里昂法官也并未被说服。
This newspaper believes that the deal should have been squashed for different reasons. Vertical mergers can be dangerous for consumers if one of the parties already wields too much power in its own industry. Ideally, infrastructure firms would face enough competition to keep prices low, and content firms would battle to sell services over that infrastructure. America is moving in the opposite direction. Two in five American households subscribe to an AT&T service. The deal gives it a powerful incentive to favour its own content over that of rivals. AT&T’s unspoken long-term goal is probably to sell expensive bundles of infrastructure and content to near-captive customers. The repeal of rules governing net neutrality, which took effect on June 11th, compounds the problem by letting infrastructure firms favour their own content.
本报认为，该交易由于种种原因本来可以被终止。如果其中一方已经在其领域只手遮天，那纵向合并对消费者来说可能是危险的。理想情况下，是基础设施公司因为足够的竞争而保持低价，而内容公司则通过基础设施公司努力销售服务。但美国却正向相反的方向发展。五分之二的美国家庭订阅AT&T服务。该交易使AT&T比其他竞争对手在内容上更具优势。AT&T未言明的长期目标可能是把昂贵的基础设施和内容销售给被锁定的客户。网络中立性规则于六月十一日正式终止了，这火上浇油的行为，使基础设施公司更偏爱他们自己的内容产品了。
Pipe up
大声说
This week’s defeat may well make the DoJ think twice about obstructing other tie-ups. After the judge’s verdict, shares rose in would-be dealmakers—among them T-Mobile and Sprint, two telecoms firms whose plans to merge also ought to be stopped. Yet, if anything, America needs a more activist approach to antitrust. In 1970-99 regulators brought an average of 16 cases a year; in 2000-14 that number fell below three. America also needs more choice in wireless and broadband markets. Municipalities should be able to build wholesale fibre networks to give their communities more high-speed broadband options; the Trump administration should urge the industry to build a national wholesale 5G wireless network. Otherwise, AT&T’s place in the annals of antitrust will stand for a decline in competition as well as an upsurge.
这周的失败，司法部在阻止其他合并案件时不妨再三斟酌。法官判决后，“未来可能参与并购交易的公司”股票上涨，其中T-Mobile和Sprint两家电信公司的合并计划也理应终止。但是，如果有任何不同的话，那就是美国应该更积极地反垄断。1970到1999年期间，监管者平均每年审理案件十六起。2000至2014年案件数量降至三起以下。在无线和宽带市场，美国还需要引入更多公司。市政应该建设更多的大规模光纤网络，使社区有更多高速宽带可供选择。特朗普政府应该敦促电信行业建设一个国家大规模5G无线网络。否则，AT&T在反垄断历史记录中就代表着竞争的下降，同样也是一个高潮。
翻译组：
Cyrus，男， 口译民工，经济学人爱好者
Doris，女，法律学习者，经济学人爱好者
Rena，女，国际学校老师，经济学人爱好者
校核组：
Neil, 男，外贸民工，经济学人铁粉
Wesley，男，自由职业，经济学人铁粉
3
观点|评论|思考
本次观点由Eva独家奉献
Eva , 女，经贸翻译学生，经济学粉丝
一些公司在应对危机时，经常会采用重组，以期望通过抱团取暖，度过严冬；形势好时，也会发生不一样的反应，裂变成不同公司基团。
AT&T与华纳时代的合并，表面上看是两大巨头的合并，实则则是面对流媒体冲击，相互补充各取所需。渠道商和内容商的结合，是完美拍档？还是互相限制，自成一体，形成垄断，抬高价格？现在还无法做出判断。
从另一方面美国是一个判例制国家，此次事件的通过，将会为其他的一些行业巨头合并重组开路。
推荐衍生资料阅读：
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/38136200
4
愿景
小组