Justice Department Tells Time Warner It Must Sell CNN Or DirecTV To Approve Its AT&T Merger (nytimes.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source): The Justice Department has called on AT&T and Time Warner to sell Turner Broadcasting, the group of cable channels that includes CNN, as a potential requirement for approving the companies' pending $85.4 billion deal, people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. The other potential way the merger could win approval would be for AT&T to sell its DirecTV division, two of these people added. As originally envisioned, combining AT&T and Time Warner would yield a giant company offering wireless and broadband internet service, DirecTV, the Warner Brothers movie studio and cable channels like HBO and CNN. If the Justice Department formally makes either demand a requisite for approval, AT&T and Time Warner would almost certainly take the matter to court to challenge the government's legal basis for blocking their deal.

Comments

Wow, this admin doesn't even bother to hide it.

[TigerPlish]

Used to be this kind of chicanery was done in the shade, not in the open.

Re:Wow, this admin doesn't even bother to hide it.

[TigerPlish]

Your point is valid, but you miss mine, which is: This used to be done in the shade. Besides, this isn't protecting the consumer, this is Dear Leader being pissed at ATT for CNN's coverage of himself.

Besides, in the past, the Gov't has taken a hacksaw to ATT for being too big.. once in the 30's and once in the 80's.. maybe more than that, I can't remember. Those were done in the open.

But my point stands - this is a political knifing, which used to be done in the dark. This isn't protecting us, this is vengeance.