Clinton's camp to rely on DOJ scrutiny of AT&T's bid for Time Warner

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With the latest polls showing her with a double digit lead two weeks before the presidential election, Hillary Clinton weighed in on Saturday’s big merger announcement. Unless you were really out of the loop Sunday, you might have heard that AT&T is spending $85.4 billion to purchase Time Warner. Not terribly long after the deal was announced yesterday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that if he wins the election, the transaction will be toast. Clinton revealed her position on Sunday evening.

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon spoke with reporters and said that there are «a number of questions and concerns» about the transaction. The spokesman added that «there’s still a lot of information that needs to come out before any conclusions should be reached. But certainly she (Clinton) thinks regulators should scrutinize it closely.» The more thoughtful response from the former Secretary of State’s camp comes in contrast to Mr. Trump’s thoughts about the transaction. «It’s too much concentration of power in the hands of too few,» the real estate developer and reality show host said about AT&T’s bid.

This isn’t the first time that the Justice Department will play a big role in determining whether an AT&T purchase gets done. In March 2011, AT&T offered to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion, creating the largest carrier in the U.S. The DOJ filed suit to block the deal and AT&T decided not to proceed six months later. In the Time Warner purchase, AT&T will get control of Warner Brothers movie studio, CNN, HBO, TBS and TNT. It also will get 10% of Hulu. If the deal closes, the nation’s second largest carrier will be full of content for its subscribers.

source: Reuters

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