Democratic and Republican presidential contenders have expressed concerns about the US telecom giant AT&T planned takeover of Times Warner.
AT&T has agreed to buy Time Warner, the owner of the Harry Potter and Batman film franchises as well as HBO and Cartoon Network, for $85.4 billion (£70bn) last weekend. The deal would create one of the world’s largest media, TV and telecoms firms.
However, politicians from both sides of the political spectrum are concerned about the implications of the takeover.
A spokesman for the Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton said there were “a number of questions and concerns” about the deal that regulators needed to scrutinise, but added “there's still a lot of information that needs to come out before any conclusions should be reached”.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, warned he will block the deal if he wins the election as it would “destroy democracy”.
In a speech in Pennsylvania, on Saturday, he said: “They’re [the media] trying desperately to suppress my vote and the voice of the American people.”
“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.”
US Senators Mike Lee and Amy Klobuchar, a Republican chairman and a ranking Democrat, respectively, of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights — said AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner “would potentially raise significant antitrust issues” that the panel would “carefully examine.”
“We have carefully examined consolidation in these industries to ensure that existing market leaders do not block or co-opt new options for receiving video content or exercise disproportionate control over the video content market,” the senators said Sunday.
"We will continue to carefully review and investigate any consolidation in this industry to makes sure that it does not harm consumers.”
The panel will hold a hearing on the merger in November. A date is yet to be determined.
The boards of the two firms unanimously approved the deal on Saturday. AT&T will pay $107.50 per Time Warner share, in a combination of cash and stock, worth $85.4 billion overall.
Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chief executive, this weekend, said he believes regulators will approve the deal.
Regulators previously raised concerns about media mergers fearful such deals could lead to higher prices for consumers and could be a possible threat to media plurality
“This is such a big deal in a set of markets that are already very concentrated in which there are already real concerns about consumer abuses,” Chris Sagers, a law professor and antitrust expert at Cleveland State University told Bloomberg.
“It’s definitely going to get a very careful look.”
If the deal goes through, AT&T and Time Warner would have combined market value of more than $310 billion.
