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WASHINGTON (AP) – Driven by the federal judge's rejection of his objections to AT & T's megameter to Time Warner, the Trump Justice Department challenges the decision by a legal appeal
On Thursday, he appeals the ruling made last month by US District Judge Richard Leon, who has blessed one of the largest media deals ever made after a historic antitrust lawsuit
Leon rejected the government's argument. the entertainment conglomerate would hurt competition, limit choices and raise prices for consumers to watch television and movies.
Leon's decision allowed AT & T Inc. of Dallas to absorb the owner of CNN, HBO, the Warner Bros. movie studio. Game of Thrones, "coveted sports program and other must-see shows."
The Department of Justice's appeal is filed with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circu. The merger was quickly completed, just two days after Leon's decision of June 12 and almost as soon as the Department of Justice reported that it would not do so. t seek to temporarily block the merger while she was thinking about a call. The deadline for closing the merger was June 21st.
Some legal experts believe that the government might have trouble convincing the court of appeal to overturn Leon's decision. Opposing the merger has forced federal antitrust regulators to oppose a permanent legal doctrine that favors mergers between companies that are not in direct competition.
This type of merger is called a vertical merge.
This was the first time. The government challenged this doctrine by attempting to block a vertical merger in 1969. Leo [traduction] "did his best to make the process attractive," said Fiona Schaeffer, antitrust attorney at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. However, the Justice Department thinks it has an adequate legal basis to show an error in Leon's decision, Schaeffer said.
"I think the Department of Justice believes that it's a very important case, mergers in the 21st century," she said. "They have put a lot of resources to challenge this vertical merger in a full trial on the merits.They have already done most of the work, and the seductive opinion (of Leon) will be an extra effort with a strong upside potential "
AT & T said Thursday that it was ready to defend Leon's decision against the government's appeal.
"The court's decision could hardly have been more thorough, fact-based and well-reasoned," said David McAtee, general counsel for the company, in a statement. "Although the losing party in dispute still has the right to appeal if it wishes, we are surprised that the (Department of Justice) has chosen to do so in these circumstances." We are ready to defend the court's decision "
Leon had urged the government not to seek a halt to the agreement, saying that it would bring" a manifestly unfair result. "The deadline could be missed, allowing under the 39 merger agreement for one or the other company to withdraw from the transaction and forcing AT & T to pay Time Warner $ 500 million break fee.
AT & T is a telephone, cable and satellite giant. In the United States, with the acquisition of DirecTV in 2014, approximately 25 million of the 90 million US households are pay-TV customers.
The merger merges a company that produces news and entertainment with one. AT & T claimed during the trial that it had to grow to survive the era of Google, Amazon and Netflix.
When the agreement was made public in October 2016, it drew the fire of the then Donald Trump candidate, who promised to kill "because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few. " Trump has publicly competed with CNN's Time Warner, the "faulty" caller and a provider of "false news." The president's statements did not appear during the trial, although his dislike emerged in the background.
AT & T has subscribed to certain conditions under which it will manage Turner Broadcasting of Time Warner, which includes CNN. For example, it will manage Turner's networks as part of a separate business unit of AT & T Communications' business, which includes DirecTV and U-verse.
In addition, AT & T Communications will not have a say on Turner's terms prices in contracts with companies that distribute its content.
This was apparently not enough to satisfy the Department of Justice.
Already the decision began to open the floodgates of dealing in the changing worlds of entertainment. A day after Leon's decision, Comcast launched a $ 65 billion takeover bid for the essentials of 21st Century Fox – exceeding Disney's $ 52.5 billion offering in December.
-billions involving Verizon and CBS and T-Mobile and Sprint.
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