AT&T Remains Confident Merger Gets Approved Under Trump AT&T continues to believe that its $100 billion acquisition of Time Warner will be approved under a Trump Presidency. The Wall Street Journal notes that AT&T, which spends $16 million annually on lobbying, had expected Hillary Clinton to win the presidency, and has had to shift its tactical approach to selling the mega-merger. But AT&T consultants tell the Journal that the company believes Trump's claim he would block the merger was a "throwaway comment" the incoming President won't actually adhere to.

a deal we will not approve in my administration because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few,” Trump said in a speech “As an example of the power structure I'm fighting, AT&T is buying Time Warner and thus CNN,because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few,” Trump said in a speech last October But Trump took this rhetoric even further, claiming his administration might also dismantle Comcast's already finished acquisition of NBC Universal. “Comcast's purchase of NBC concentrated far too much power in one massive entity that is trying to tell the voters what to think and what to do,” Trump said. “Deals like this destroy democracy and we'll look at breaking that deal up and other deals like that. That should never, ever have been approved in the first place, they're trying to poison the mind of the American voter." But AT&T insiders tell the Journal they believe Trump's comments were primarily just empty rhetoric aimed at ridiculing CNN, which Trump believes portrayed him negatively in the lead up to the election. AT&T executives continue to insist they believe the merger will be approved despite these comments. “We support president-elect Trump’s agenda of economic growth, investment in infrastructure and rational regulation,” Mr. Stephenson said Wednesday in a written statement. “We look forward to presenting how our Time Warner transaction supports that agenda for the benefit of consumers.” Critics of the deal argue it gives AT&T too much power to restrict streaming competitor access to necessary content, poses a grave risk to consumer privacy given AT&T's Critics of the deal argue it gives AT&T too much power to restrict streaming competitor access to necessary content, poses a grave risk to consumer privacy given AT&T's history on the subject, and will result in AT&T using zero rating (cap exemption) to give its upcoming DirecTV Now (and all Time Warner content) preferential treatment.







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Most recommended from 30 comments



TIGERON

join:2008-03-11

Boston, MA 11 recommendations TIGERON Member We are screwed Too much power concentrated in the hands of a few will eventually give way. jorcmg

join:2002-10-24

USA 7 recommendations jorcmg Member Here we go. I expect this matter to be personal to Trump. Time Warner and ATT will suffer for CNN. It is not going to be a Republican thing...or a Democrat thing. It is going to be a Trump thing.

Economist

The economy, stupid

Premium Member

join:2015-07-10

united state 3 recommendations Economist Premium Member Delusional Also continues to believe that Bill Clinton never inhaled.