Last year the DOJ had called on AT&T and Time Warner to sell all or part of the Turner Broadcasting Group—the group of cable networks that includes CNN—or to sell off DIRECTV and keep the cable networks as a potential requirement for approving the pending deal. After AT&T refused, the DOJ sued to block the merger. AT&T asked the court to approve their $85 billion deal to buy Time Warner without any preconditions and won their case. Now the Department of Justice has appealed that case and received a court date of December 6th, 2018.
The DOJ is not alone other groups including the FCC are supporting the appeal. “While the Commission takes no position on the relevance of any document in this case, it is concerned that two of the rationales supplied by the district court for discounting the probative value of submissions made to the FCC could reflect a misunderstanding of Commission procedures,” the FCC wrote. Also, the American Cable Association, which represents small- and medium-sized cable companies, joined the advocacy group Public Knowledge in an effort to overturn the earlier court ruling.
For now, we will have to wait and see what happens to the appeal, yet don’t look for this to be resolved anytime soon.
This is breaking news look for more news to come on this development.
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