the fcc might also play a role, depending on whether old licenses still owned by time warner are transferred to a new owner.  | ap photo by tony romm 10/24/16 09:40 am edt an ambitious bid by at&t to buy time warner could face major political obstacles in merger-wary washington, where congressional lawmakers <u+2014> and both the clinton and trump campaigns <u+2014> are already sounding early doubts about the deal. it<u+2019>ll be up to federal regulators in the coming months to bless or reject a merger that would combine the more than 100 million wireless, broadband and pay-tv subscribers at at&t with time warner assets like hbo and cnn. the combination, valued at more than $85 billion, could dramatically reshape the telecommunications industry. story continued below soon after the announcement of the merger, lawmakers including sens. al franken (d-minn.) and bernie sanders (i-vt.) began to question what the deal would mean for consumers. sens. mike lee (r-utah) and amy klobuchar (d-minn.), the leaders of the senate antitrust subcommittee, said they would hold a hearing on the tie-up in november. that put them in the rare company of both presidential campaigns: donald trump himself openly criticized at&t<u+2019>s latest gambit on saturday, while democratic vice presidential nominee tim kaine said a day later he<u+2019>s also concerned about its implications. for its part, at&t says its merger combines two companies that work in different but related industries <u+2014> and doesn<u+2019>t wipe a competitor from the telecom landscape. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s no media consolidation going on,<u+201d> said bob quinn, senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs at at&t. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re not a content company acquiring more content; we<u+2019>re not a broadband company acquiring more distribution.<u+201d> optimism aside, at&t<u+2019>s merger still faces an uphill political climb in the nation<u+2019>s capital: the deal will land in the lap of the next congress and a new white house, both of which might be itching to take a bite out of a rapidly changing <u+2014> and consolidating <u+2014> telecom industry. <u+201c>this consolidation is not just a democratic issue, it<u+2019>s not just a republican issue, it<u+2019>s not just a trump issue,<u+201d> klobuchar told politico on sunday. <u+201c>this is a bipartisan problem, and we have to approach it that way, and that<u+2019>s why we<u+2019>re going to be calling for this hearing.<u+201d> for at&t or any merging corporate giants, it<u+2019>s the government<u+2019>s customary review process that often creates the biggest headaches. at&t knows the rigors of an antitrust win and loss firsthand. it successfully bought satellite provider directv last year, and it waged a failed campaign to buy t-mobile in 2011 in a deal blocked by federal antitrust cops even though at&t spent millions of dollars lobbying to grow its wireless footprint. this time around, the final green light rests in the hands of the justice department. the federal communications commission might also play a role, depending on whether old licenses still owned by time warner are transferred to a new owner. what<u+2019>s new, however, are the politics: the blockbuster at&t-time warner merger comes in the final weeks of an election that could reshape the very federal agencies that are supposed to approve the deal. at least in this respect, the trump and hillary clinton campaigns agree the merger deserves close scrutiny. trump, speaking saturday in pennsylvania, threatened to block the deal outright, promising he <u+201c>will not approve [it] in my administration because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few." a day later, kaine appeared on nbc<u+2019>s "meet the press," stressing that regulators have to <u+201c>get to the bottom<u+201d> of the merits of the deal. "less concentration, i think, is generally helpful, especially in the media,<u+201d> he said. their comments complemented a growing chorus on capitol hill speaking out against consolidation <u+2014> in the media industry and elsewhere. sen. elizabeth warren (d-mass.), for one, has blasted the growth of companies like comcast, though she has not yet commented on the latest merger. other democrats, including sens. franken, richard blumenthal (d-conn.) and ed markey (d-mass.), said this weekend they<u+2019>d be skeptical of the deal, which already will be the subject of one hearing before congress in the coming months. sanders, who challenged clinton for the democratic presidential nomination, tweeted sunday that "the administration should kill the time warner-at&t merger. this deal would mean higher prices and fewer choices for the american people." for its part, though, at&t insists there<u+2019>s no consolidation at hand. previewing their arguments to congress and federal regulators, quinn stressed it<u+2019>s a <u+201c>vertical merger,<u+201d> meaning at&t would be adding new assets to the company and not taking a competitor, like another wireless giant, off the market. <u+201c>we haven<u+2019>t found a single transaction in the media, entertainment or broadband space where the government has blocked a vertical transaction,<u+201d> quinn said. instead, quinn said, any concerns about competition could be handled through conditions imposed on the deal, which is what the doj and fcc did in the comcast-nbcuniversal transaction in 2011. even in that scenario, at&t and time warner may face an uphill battle. the new street research firm said this weekend in a note to investors that a <u+201c>government review of an at&t/time warner entertainment [deal] would likely result in approval but is not without significant risks and will likely face major conditions.<u+201d> and the firm btig predicted similar headaches, seeing as many view the government<u+2019>s treatment of the comcast deal as a major failure. <u+201c>whether or not it comes before fcc <u+2014> the doj regrets the behavioral remedies of comcast-nbc,<u+201d> analyst rich greenfield said in an interview. to that end, klobuchar said she hopes lessons have been learned from the comcast-nbc deal. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t know if it will be approved, but if they go down that route, we just cannot continue to have consumers being the ones holding the bag here for all these mergers, and that<u+2019>s what<u+2019>s been happening,<u+201d> klobuchar said. by michael grunwald by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz
at&t-time warner linkup faces uphill battle in washington - politico
tony romm michael grunwald