DOJ demands AT&T sell CNN for Time Warner acquisition approval, AT&T says NO WAY…

by The Right Scoop

The DOJ is demanding that AT&T sell CNN if they want to purchase Time Warner:

CNBC – Time Warner shares were down 6 percent Wednesday after the Justice Department demanded that CNN’s parent be sold before a merger with AT&T can be approved.

CNBC confirmed the Justice Department’s demand that Turner Broadcasting or DirecTV be sold before approval of the $85 billion merger.

AT&T’s stock price was up slightly.

Earlier Wednesday, AT&T’s chief financial officer John Stephens said the timing of the deal was “now uncertain.”

Stephens spoke about the negotiations with the government at a conference Wednesday morning.

“We are in active discussions with the [Department of Justice]. Those are continuing on. I can’t comment on those discussions, but with those discussions, I can now say that the timing of the closing of the deal is now uncertain,” he said, according to a FactSet transcript. “With regards to the transaction, everything continues as we’ve expressed in the past.”

According to Reuters, AT&T has no intention of selling CNN, which can only mean they intend to fight this or cancel the merger:

Here’s something interesting from the NY Times earlier this year:

If AT&T decided to fight the DOJ, I could see ‘bias’ against CNN being their main argument against the Trump administration.

Now I’m not suggesting that the DOJ or Trump is doing anything unethical or illegal here. In fact I think Sessions is one of the most above-board people in the administration. I seriously doubt he would allow Trump or his advisors to bully him into doing something he knew was wrong.

But given all of Trump’s statements against CNN and his threats earlier this year about taking ‘licenses’ away from media companies based on content, I can’t believe AT&T would not use this against the administration in court.


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