AT&T to buy Time Warner – US to examine the deal

US Telecom giant and third largest cable provider, AT&T announced that it will buy Time Warner, the entertainment group for £70bn ($86bn), in one of the biggest deal this year. It would combine AT&T’s distribution network with content from the Warner Brothers film studios and cable TV channels HBO and CNN.

A Senate subcommittee responsible for competition will hold a hearing in November 2016.

AT & T’s Mr Stephenson said “ no competitive harm that is being rendered by putting these companies together, so any concerns by the regulators, we believe will be adequately addressed by conditions.” Republican candidate Donald Trump has said that he would block the merger if he wins, because it was “ too much concentration of power in the hands of too few.”

A spokeman for the Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton said there were “a number of questions and concerns” about the deal that regulators needed to scrutinise, and there’s still a lot of information that needs to come out before any conclusions can be reached.

The President does not have the final say , that lies with the US Justice Department, which can approve, block or put conditions on the takeover going through.