June 2017

Sen Susan Collins (R-ME) told the Department of Justice that she wants closer scrutiny of AT&T’s merger with Time Warner. In a letter to acting Assistant Attorney General Andrew Finch, Collins expressed concern with a consolidation of power that could lead to “reduced programming choices and higher prices for consumers.” “The risk is real that the acquisition of such a prominent content producer by a distributor of AT&T’s size could allow it to dramatically reduce consumer choice in favor of its new in-house brand,” Sen Collins wrote, noting that no other premium network like Showtime or Starz is also owned by distributors. “I’m also concerned that this merger could encourage and enable AT&T and DirecTV to raise content costs to harm pay-TV competitors,” she continued.

President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Peter Davidson to be General Counsel of the Department of Commerce. Davidson recently served as Senior Vice President for Congressional Relations at Verizon Communications, and prior to that, as General Counsel to the United States Trade Representative. He has also served as Vice President for Congressional Relations at USWEST and Qwest, General Counsel and Policy Director to the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Attorney-advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice, director of congressional and media relations at the United States Information Agency, staff to Reps Dick Armey (R-TX) and Bill Frenzel (R-MN), and law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Davidson has degrees from Carleton College and The University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Notes Editor on the Law Review. He was raised in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin and currently resides in Virginia with his wife Kari, and they have three children: Madeleine, Sophie, and Björn.