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U.S. telco could reportedly win over officials with promises of good behaviour.
AT&T has entered talks with U.S. antitrust officials about remedies that could pave the way for the approval of its $85.4 billion (€78.4 billion) acquisition of Time Warner.
Sources cited by Bloomberg earlier this week claimed that government antitrust lawyers are focused on whether the telco giant could offer promises of good behaviour that would win over the authorities.
Concessions could include pledging not to use its power as a pay-TV distributor to unfairly advantage Time Warner content, which includes the likes of HBO and CNN. They may include a ‘must carry’ obligation, which would see AT&T required to market and sell content from rivals in areas where it offers its own content.
AT&T agreed to acquire Time Warner in October 2016.
At the time, there were doubts about whether the deal would pass muster with antitrust authorities, but the subsequent election of Donald Trump as U.S. President led many observers to conclude that the new administration would be more favourable to mega-mergers.
Nonetheless, there remains strong opposition in some quarters.
A group of Democratic senators last week wrote to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, warning him that the tie-up "would result in higher prices, fewer choices, and worse service for consumers."
The senators warned that any behavioural remedies imposed on AT&T would be unenforceable given the lack of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oversight of the transaction, and uncertainty about the future of U.S. net neutrality regulations.
"Should you determine that the substantial harms arising from the transaction outweigh the purported benefits, we urge you to reject it," the senators said.
