Trump looms large in AT&T antitrust battle
President Trump’s feud with CNN is casting a shadow over the Justice Department’s lawsuit to block AT&T from merging with Time Warner, the news outlet’s parent company.
The Justice Department’s decision to bring a lawsuit against a vertical merger — a deal involving two companies that aren’t direct competitors — is a major shift in antitrust policy from previous administrations.
To those who have been raising the alarm about corporate consolidation, the move is long overdue, and a sign that regulators in the Trump administration won't be a rubber stamp for such major deals.
But AT&T and its supporters are suggesting the policy shift is being driven by something other than antitrust law — namely, Trump’s long-running feud with CNN, a network owned by Time Warner.
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/technology/361565-trump-looms-large-in-att-antitrust-battle
