AT&T's $85 Billion Time Warner Merger is Going to be Approved

AT&T's $85 Billion Time Warner Merger is Going to be Approved

Despite Donald Trump's breathless promise to block AT&T's $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner during the Presidential campaign, the companies and DOJ are moving into the "advanced stages" of the approval process, notes The Wall Street Journal. The two sides were already busy talking conditions as of last month, according to numerous reports. Traditionally, conditions affixed to such deals have been proposed by the companies' themselves, and tend to be little more than theatrical in benefit.

AT&T's streaming competitors are pushing for meaningful conditions, however, since they worry AT&T will use its size to prevent competitors from getting reasonable access to content licensing (like HBO) they'll need to compete with AT&T's own DirecTV Now streaming service.

AT&T has also repeatedly come under fire for using usage caps to penalize competitors, but not AT&T's own content (aka zero rating), while consistently working to undermine net neutrality (an open, competitive internet).

AT&T and Time Warner already managed to eliminate the need for FCC review by selling an Atlanta TV station and avoiding any spectrum license transfers, which would have triggered FCC involvement. That means the deal only needs approval by the DOJ, where Trump appointed a new antitrust boss that has publicly stated he doesn't see any problem with the megamerger -- but hasn't seen Senate approval yet.

Trump repeatedly promised to block the merger on the campaign trail.

"In 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 last fall.

That was then, this is now. Most analysts expect the deal to be approved with relatively modest conditions, which would be in line with the Trump administration's rather cozy treatment of incumbent ISPs like AT&T (see the killing of consumer privacy rules and net neutrality). Additional reports indicated that post-merger, AT&T is planning to kill off the Time Warner brand completely, and current Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes will be moving on once the deal is completed.