WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court has authorized AT & T's takeover of Time Warner, dismissing a challenge from the Trump administration claiming it failed to prove the $ 81 billion merger would no harm to consumers or competition in the pay-TV market.
The decision of the US Court of Appeals in Washington intervened on Tuesday in the case of major issues of competition, approving one of the biggest marriages with the media.
It was already over last spring, shortly after a federal judge had approved it, while telephone and pay TV giant AT & T absorbed Time Warner, owner of CNN, HBO, from the studio Warner Bros., Game of Thrones, movie theater Many observers were waiting for a favorable decision from the three-judge AT & T appeal court, which upheld the June ruling. by the trial judge. The opposition to the merger has forced the Department of Justice to oppose the prevailing legal doctrine that favors mergers between firms that do not compete directly, a so-called vertical merger. Against AT & T, the largest pay-TV provider based in Dallas, USA, it's the first time in decades that the government has challenged this doctrine by filing a lawsuit to block a vertical merger. US District Judge Richard Leon was right in rejecting the government's argument that the merger would undermine competition, limit choices and drive up consumer prices to broadcast television and movies. ruled the judges of appeal.
Antitrust lawyers at the Ministry of Justice also claimed that Leon misunderstood the complexity of the pay-TV market and the nature of AT & T's competitors.
The idea behind the merger was to help AT & T, which claims about 25 million of the 90 million US pay-TV households, to better compete with the nimble Internet-based rivals, such as Netflix, YouTube and Hulu.
Shortly after the conclusion of the agreement, AT & T launched WatchTV, a streaming service valued at $ 15 per month offering more than 30 TV channels, including TNT and TBS (Turner Broadcasting). Time Warner.
AT & T said the merger would save money on Turner Broadcasting's content, which would reduce the fees charged to its DirecTV customers by at least $ 78 million a year.
The case could affect the future course of antitrust regulations.
Leon's decision has already paved the way for negotiations in the rapidly changing worlds of show production and distribution.
Just one day after its decision, Comcast returned to a bidding war with Disney for most 21st Century Fox television and movie companies. Disney finally won and Comcast instead bought the British chain Sky. Sprint and T-Mobile wireless carriers are also trying to combine; the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission are still reviewing this agreement.
When the AT & T-Time Warner Agreement was released for the first time in October 2016, it had attracted the attention of Donald Trump, the then-candidate, who had promised to kill "because there is too much concentration of power in the hands of too few people". with CNN of Time Warner, the caller "failing" and a provider of "false news". The president's statements did not appear during the trial in a district court, although his dislike appeared in the background.
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