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Federal judge clears AT&T's $85 billion bid for Time Warner with no conditions
CNBC ^ | 06/12/2018 | Sara Salinas

Posted on 06/12/2018 1:49:31 PM PDT by Red Badger

AT&T announced that it was buying Time Warner for $85.4 billion in October 2016. The Justice Department sued last year to block the merger, citing concerns that AT&T, owner of satellite television provider DirecTV, could charge rival distributors more for Time Warner content, resulting in higher prices for consumers. The outcome of the trial could have implications for future deals in the telecom and media industries, as well as vertical mergers, where companies combine with their suppliers.

A federal judge said Tuesday that AT&T's $85.4 billion purchase of Time Warner is legal, clearing the path for a deal that gives the pay-TV provider ownership of cable channels such as HBO and CNN as well as film studio Warner Bros.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon did not impose conditions on the merger's approval.

Shares of Time Warner jumped nearly 5 percent in extended trading. Shares of AT&T dropped more than 2 percent.

The Justice Department sued last year to block the merger, citing concerns that AT&T, owner of satellite television provider DirecTV, could charge rival distributors more for Time Warner content, resulting in higher prices for consumers. But AT&T has countered that the logic doesn't hold up since the point of owning content is to get widespread distribution, which brings in affiliate fees and advertising revenue.

The decision comes after a six-week trial.

AT&T, also the No. 2 wireless carrier in the U.S., said it was buying Time Warner in October 2016 to diversify its revenues and also become a media powerhouse that could attract consumers by bundling entertainment with mobile service. CEO Randall Stephenson has said the deal would help AT&T compete against tech giants like Amazon and Netflix, which are investing more in content.

The outcome of the trial will likely have implications for future deals in the telecom and media industries, as well as vertical mergers, where a company buys its supplier. Comcast has been eyeing a similar merger to combine production and distribution in a competing bid for Foxand was preparing to announce an offer as soon as Wednesday if Leon ruled in favor of AT&T in the trial, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; Government; US: Georgia; US: New York
KEYWORDS: amazon; antitrust; att; clintonnonnews; cnbc; cnn; comcast; directv; fox; margarettalev; merger; netflix; timewarner; trustsessionslol
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To: wideminded

21 posted on 06/12/2018 2:06:04 PM PDT by Red Badger (When Obama and VJ go to prison for treason, will Roseanne get her show back?...)
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To: Red Badger

“We’re putting the band back together!”


22 posted on 06/12/2018 2:06:18 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Red Badger

Great news!

Start cleaning out your desk, Zuck.


23 posted on 06/12/2018 2:06:57 PM PDT by bigbob (Trust Sessions. Trust the Plan.)
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To: Red Badger

24 posted on 06/12/2018 2:06:59 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: bert

Sessions is plotting in every nook and cranny don’t you know. It is becoming inane. I had a bad hair day...it was Sessions fault


25 posted on 06/12/2018 2:07:55 PM PDT by katiedidit1
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To: Red Badger
BREAK UP MA BELL AT&T!
26 posted on 06/12/2018 2:08:17 PM PDT by Roccus (When you talk to a politician...ANY politician...always say, "Remember Ceausescu")
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To: Roccus

And you all thought Ma Bell was dead! Bwahahahahahahahahahhahahahah!...........................


27 posted on 06/12/2018 2:09:25 PM PDT by Red Badger (When Obama and VJ go to prison for treason, will Roseanne get her show back?...)
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To: Red Badger

I was there when she went into the coma


28 posted on 06/12/2018 2:10:12 PM PDT by Roccus (When you talk to a politician...ANY politician...always say, "Remember Ceausescu")
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To: arrogantsob

My guess is there is 0 indictments for DOJ! FBI! clinton and obama scandals. Sessions is a moron, a lazy POS and the worst appointment trump could ever make. The sessions Q CTH people only believe that Sessions is busy behind the scenes because they want to believe that someone is doing something to bring dirtbags to justice. My opinion is that little if anything is really being done. Dont you think if something really were being done trump and congress would know about it? (Pls forget about the notion that everyone is in on the game to pretend nothing is going on. The likely fact is that nothing is going on).


29 posted on 06/12/2018 2:10:59 PM PDT by Okeydoker
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To: bert

“you have no clue about what the DOJ is actually doing”

And neither do you.


30 posted on 06/12/2018 2:11:06 PM PDT by chris37 ("I am everybody." -Mark Robinson)
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To: Red Badger
AT&T can't even figure out to make my internet connection reliable, how are they going to run this monster? Will they screw it up?

31 posted on 06/12/2018 2:12:30 PM PDT by Right Wing Assault (Kill: google,TWITR,FACEBK,WaPo,Hollywd,CNN,NFL,BLM,CAIR,Antifa,SPLC,ESPN,NPR,NBA)
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To: bigbob

One wonders what, if anything will happen with the Obammys and Susan Rice involvement with NETFLIX.


32 posted on 06/12/2018 2:12:43 PM PDT by MagUSNRET
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To: Red Badger

Robert Bork’ s views on monopoly, adopted by the DOJ in the 1970s prevail.

Thanks in large part to groundbreaking books in the 1970s by the Supreme Court nominee and Yale Law School antitrust scholar Robert Bork (“The Antitrust Paradox”) and Richard Posner (now an influential judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals) at the University of Chicago Law School (“Antitrust Law”), vertical mergers came to be viewed as usually promoting competition and, by extension, consumer welfare.

The view was embraced by the Supreme Court and embedded in the Justice Department’s vertical merger guidelines during the Reagan administration.


33 posted on 06/12/2018 2:13:38 PM PDT by oincobx
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To: clintonh8r

This is WHY the NeverTrump GOP is dying.

They never fail to give the Chamber of Commerce and the business community EXACTLY what they want.

Even if it’s not good for the vast majority of Americans.
After three decades of this people are fed-up. Trump is actually going to save the GOP by saying NO to them from time to time.


34 posted on 06/12/2018 2:14:07 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: chris37

clue: The President recognizes danger and is not stupid as many here imply


35 posted on 06/12/2018 2:14:45 PM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... Greetings Jacques. The revolution is coming))
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To: Roccus

She’s BAAAAAACK!.........................


36 posted on 06/12/2018 2:15:52 PM PDT by Red Badger (When Obama and VJ go to prison for treason, will Roseanne get her show back?...)
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To: txnativegop

Thats funny


37 posted on 06/12/2018 2:17:18 PM PDT by CGASMIA68
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To: Red Badger

Efficiency. Now if you want to add a channel to the cable line up you’ll just dial zero for the operator.


38 posted on 06/12/2018 2:18:35 PM PDT by Rebelbase ( Tagline disabled.)
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To: Red Badger

As long as my pension checks keep coming from the company that was born of one of the Baby Bells, I think I’ll just sit back, have a coke and enjoy the show.


39 posted on 06/12/2018 2:19:46 PM PDT by Roccus (When you talk to a politician...ANY politician...always say, "Remember Ceausescu")
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To: CGASMIA68

I’m not laughing


40 posted on 06/12/2018 2:19:58 PM PDT by txnativegop (The political left, Mankinds intellectual hemlock)
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