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> IANAL, but "would allow us to" is a far cry from "we will do so"; could be as simple as that? They never _committed_ to lowering prices post-merger, just said they _could_...theoretically.

Yeah, I was thinking along the same lines, but I didn't want to rely on Ars Technica's paraphrase.

I would hope such "arguments" could be efficiently shot down by the observation that, by the same logic, buying Time Warner would similarly allow [AT&T] to buy every American a pony. The likelihood of that happening is similar to the likelihood AT&T would lower its prices post-merger.