US opens court fight over AT&T deal

Lawyers for President Trump’s Justice Department on Thursday told a federal court judge that the American people will pay dearly if AT&Tis able to complete its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner.

With AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes in the courtroom lending an air of urgency to the proceedings, the Justice Department’s Craig Conrath told the court if the mega-merger goes through, it will cost US consumers about $400 million more a year for pay TV.

As the much-anticipated antitrust trial kicked off, many in the media world watched intently.

If Judge Richard Leon blocks the deal, many believe it could have a chilling effect on other media world mergers.

No sooner did Conrath lay out his opening statement than Daniel Petrocelli, a lawyer for the companies, laid into it — saying the government has the case completely wrong.

The merger will actually lower pay-TV prices by $500 million, Petrocelli said.

The government believes the vertical merger — that is, AT&T, a TVdistributor with its DirecTV unit, and a content provider, Time Warner with its CNN, TBS and TNT — will leave the combined company with too much pricing power.

The companies contend they need to bulk up to better compete with Netflix and Amazon.

The first witness, Cox Communications content acquisitions executive Suzanne Fenwick, said she is “very concerned” that a merger would make negotiations with Turner for content “horribly ugly.”

On cross-examination, some in the courtroom thought Petrocelli made it clear that Fenwick had done no analysis to back up her claims.