Consumer advocacy groups ask Attorney General Sessions to block AT&T's purchase of Time Warner
Several consumer advocacy groups have written U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions asking him to block AT&T's purchase of Time Warner. The groups worry that AT&T would lose the incentive to widely distribute Time Warner programming after closing on the $85.4 billion transaction. The seven groups asking Sessions to block the deal include Common Cause, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Public Knowledge and other groups.
In a letter written to the Attorney General, executives of the seven firms said that approving the deal could lead to a stifling of innovation in the area, and lead to a hike in prices. When AT&T first announced that it was buying Time Warner in October for $85.4 billion, then Republican candidate Donald Trump said that if he won the presidential election, he would seek to block the deal because "It's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few."
Time Warner happens to be the parent company of CNN, the cable news channel that provides 24 hours of news each day to subscribers. It also happens to be the news outlet that Trump insults the most, calling its programming "FAKE news" whenever it runs a story that takes issue with the president. Some believe that Trump is looking to block the deal as a way to get back at CNN for its coverage of his presidency.
source: BusinessInsider
(The deal) "poses ... grave dangers to consumers and creators in mature and emerging markets. If you conclude, as appears to us from the available information, that conditions and piecemeal divestitures will not be sufficient, then we hope you will challenge the merger in its entirety"-Letter from seven consumer advocacy groups to Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Time Warner happens to be the parent company of CNN, the cable news channel that provides 24 hours of news each day to subscribers. It also happens to be the news outlet that Trump insults the most, calling its programming "FAKE news" whenever it runs a story that takes issue with the president. Some believe that Trump is looking to block the deal as a way to get back at CNN for its coverage of his presidency.
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