Public Knowledge and the American Antitrust Institute have urged the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division to monitor and scrutinize the video and platform streaming markets, including in a review of the proposed combination of the entertainment, sports, and news content businesses of AT&T, Inc.'s, WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc. "While competition among online video providers appears to be relatively robust today, it is important that the Discovery /WarnerMedia deal is scrutinized with awareness of the fledgling threats to competition in the video streaming marketplace," the groups said. "Slow and inadequate oversight risks the streaming market going the same route as cable - where consumers have little power, few options, and where consolidation and concentration reign supreme. A number of threats to competition are clear, as discussed in this section, including: (1) market power issues surrounding content and (2) the role of platforms in 'gatekeeping' to limit competition."
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