Senate Ready to Bring in AT&T, Time Warner CEOs to Defend Deal

A Republican Senate aide initially said the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee hearing would be 2 p.m. Dec. 7 with both CEOs agreeing to testify (see 1610260031). The aide later told us the full committee may change the date to slightly before or after Dec. 7, and nothing is formally set. Subcommittee Chairman Mike Lee, R-Utah, and ranking member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., originally said Sunday they wanted to hold the hearing in November, an announcement seen as especially fast during the October congressional recess period (see 1610240053). The Judiciary Committee website contains no details on the scheduling.

AT&T is looking “forward to discussing the many benefits of this transaction with regulators and legislators,” said General Counsel David McAtee. “In the modern history of the media and the Internet, the U.S. government has always approved vertical mergers like ours, because they benefit consumers, strengthen competition, and, in our case, encourage innovation and investment.” A Time Warner spokesman didn't comment.

No similar House Judiciary Committee hearing was announced, and a Republican Judiciary aide declined comment Wednesday. That House staffer previously had said House Judiciary was reviewing the deal and a hearing was possible. When Congress considered AT&T/DirecTV in June 2014, Judiciary Committee lawmakers coordinated to hold Senate and House oversight hearings on the same day to allow testimony from company CEOs at both hearings.

The deal “represents a gross concentration of power that runs counter to the public good and should be blocked,” the “latest effort to shrink our media landscape, stifle competition and diversity of content, and provide consumers with less while charging them more,” Sanders, a former Democratic presidential contender, wrote in a letter Wednesday to Renata Hesse, acting assistant attorney general of DOJ’s Antitrust Division. “The diversity of programing would be further diminished by truncating the relationship of content and distribution. When one giant company owns both the content and the means of distribution, there is a clear disincentive to provide additional choices to consumers.” AT&T didn’t comment on the letter. Free Press is rallying support for a petition aimed at Congress, urging lawmakers to support a federal block of the deal.

Sanders first urged rejection of the deal over the weekend, shortly after its announcement. If Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton “is elected president we must do everything possible to make certain that her administration mounts a vigorous anti-trust effort,” said Sanders in a statement this week. “Today, a handful of giant media conglomerates own and control much of what the American people see, hear and read. We must reject the AT&T-Time Warner merger. We need more diverse media ownership, not less.” The Clinton campaign said the deal raises questions but didn't urge rejection, as the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has. Sanders blasted AT&T lobbying. “AT&T is trying to buy Congress with $11.3 million in donations since 2015,” Sanders tweeted Wednesday, posting an image of money raining over the Senate floor. “Washington must work for the people not big corporations.”

“Markets work only when there is competition -- and that’s why our antitrust laws outlaw mergers that stifle competition,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., an advocate for strong antitrust authority, in a Facebook post. “Regulators should take a very, very close look at the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger. If the deal will significantly reduce competition, then it’s not only harmful -- it’s illegal.”