AT&T took its argument for a merger with DirecTV to lawmakers Tuesday, arguing that the deal is different than other mergers in the industry, including a potential one between Sprint and T-Mobile.

"This is not Comcast/Time Warner, this is not two cable companies getting together, this is not Sprint and T-Mobile," CEO Randall Stephenson told a House Judiciary Committee panel.

"We're putting (DirecTV's satellite) TV product with our broadband wireless product. ... There is not a content player per se in this transaction."

AT&T revealed in May that it intends to offer almost $50 billion to acquire DirecTV in deal worth around $67 billion overall. AT&T expects to finalize details by the end of the year. A combined AT&T-DirecTV company would be the second-largest television provider behind Comcast-Time Warner, another huge merger currently shaking up the telecommunications industry.

On top of it all, Sprint is looking to acquire T-Mobile, consolidating the national carrier market from four to three. The deal is reportedly valued at $40 billion, but faces scrutiny from regulators who are afraid of giving customers fewer choices.

"We're concerned that there may be too much, too rapid consolidation in the telecommunications industry," Michigan Democrat John Conyers said at the AT&T hearing Tuesday. "This ongoing wave of consolidation will without question result in fewer firms and may harm consumers by limiting choices and also raising prices after all. ... I will be looking and listening to make sure that we are not moving in the wrong direction."

Will regulators stop the impending deals? It's hard to tell at early stages, although there has been significantly more pressure on the Sprint and T-Mobile merger than on an AT&T and DirecTV deal. Consolidation, however, doesn't necessarily mean less competition. In fact, combined firms with access to more technology could in reality provide richer services to customers.

"We can make it more effective by getting bigger scale," Sprint parent company SoftBank's CEO Masayoshi Son said last week to reporters. "Us becoming a more credible competitor in scale is something good for American consumers and citizens."

"If the government wants us to have a competitive environment, you are going to make sure that the duopoly doesn't use their prowess to crush the little guys and have this sub-1 GHz spectrum be moved all to them," eccentric T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in an interview on television show "Bloomberg West" earlier this year.

AT&T, which made a failed bid for T-Mobile three years ago, however, is shaking its head.

"The problem as I see it is the way the government shut our deal down. They wrote a complaint and a very specific complaint. You're consolidating the industry from four to three national competitors," AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said last week during an event at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.

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