Prof’s call: Feds will head off AT&T merger

Maybe AT&T’s $85 billion merger with Time Warner is in trouble, after all.

Herbert Hovenkamp, a prominent Wharton professor known as the “dean of American antitrust law,” says he believes that President Trump’s Justice Department will likely succeed in blocking the controversial deal.

That’s in contrast to many legal pundits, who have said the DOJ’s case looks weak amid accusations that Trump is trying to bust up the merger because of a longstanding beef with Time Warner’s CNN channel.

“To me, it is a close call, but I think the government has met its burden,” Hovenkamp told The Post in his first public comments about the case since a trial wrapped up last month.

Specifically, Hovenkamp says he believes the DOJ has done enough to prove that AT&T and Time Warner could boost their profits by raising prices for customers if they merged. AT&T owns DirecTV, while Time Warner also owns HBO and Cartoon Network.

“It has nothing to do with proving their intent,” said Hovenkamp, who has written more than a dozen books on antitrust law and isn’t working on either side of the landmark case.

The government’s economic witness, Cal-Berkeley professor Carl Shapiro, testified that AT&T could charge higher fees for Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting to cable companies, costing customers as much as 45 cents a month extra on their monthly bills.

Washington, DC, Judge Richard Leon has said he will hand down his decision by June 12.