30% is the Key Number for Either Comcast or AT&T Acquisition Efforts

If market concentration rules of thumb continue to matter, either the Comcast acquisition of Time Warner Cable or the AT&T acquisition of DirecTV will turn on “30 percent” thresholds.

If both mergers were approved, Comcast would have about 57 percent market share in high speed access service and about 30 percent share of the linear video subscription business.

The number that will cause trouble is the share of high speed access accounts.

AT&T with DirecTV assets would have about 17 percent share of the high speed access market and about 25 percent of the linear video subscription market.

That is why the greater concern is likely to be the Comcast acquisition, not AT&T’s purchase of DirecTV.