US: Trump team reassures AT&T over Time Warner merger review

AT&T is reportedly feeling confident about its ability to buy Time Warner after meeting with President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team—even though Trump himself vowed to block the merger during his campaign.

“Donald Trump’s transition team has reassured AT&T that its $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner will be scrutinized without prejudice,” the Financial Times reported yesterday. “After talking with the president-elect’s team, AT&T executives are confident that their deal has a good chance of passing regulatory scrutiny, people informed about the conversation said.”

Time Warner, the programming company that owns CNN and HBO, is a separate entity from Time Warner Cable, the ISP that was recently purchased by Charter Communications.

Trump railed against AT&T’s proposed purchase of Time Warner during a campaign speech in October. “As an example of the power structure I’m fighting, AT&T is buying Time Warner and thus CNN, 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 at the time. In that speech, Trump complained about the media’s coverage of his campaign.

Full Content: ARS Technica

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