DOJ: AT&T-Time Warner Ruling Disregarded ‘Economics And Common Sense’

ST. LOUIS, MO - MARCH 31:  US Attorney General Jeff Sessions addresses law enforcement members at the Thomas Eagleton U.S. Courthouse on March 31, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. Attorney General Session is in town to work with federal, state and local law enforcement about efforts to combat violent crime and restore public safety. (Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO - MARCH 31: US Attorney General Jeff Sessions addresses law enforcement members at the Thomas Eagleton U.S. Courthouse on March 31, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. Attorney General Session is in town to w... ST. LOUIS, MO - MARCH 31: US Attorney General Jeff Sessions addresses law enforcement members at the Thomas Eagleton U.S. Courthouse on March 31, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. Attorney General Session is in town to work with federal, state and local law enforcement about efforts to combat violent crime and restore public safety. (Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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In a briefing filed by the Department of Justice on Monday — as part of the federal government’s efforts to challenge AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner — the DOJ argued that the trial judge who approved the merger between the two media giants disregarded “fundamental principles of economics and common sense,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

A U.S. district judge ruled in favor of the acquisition in June, claiming the federal government hadn’t been able to prove its claims that the merger would give AT&T vast authority to squash competitors if it were allowed to function as “a top distributor of pay-TV service as well as the owner of top content,” in the WSJ’s words.

In its briefing filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Monday, the DOJ argued the ruling was wrong because it ignored speculations that companies are inherently motivated by maximum profits.

Read the WSJ’s full report here.  

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