T.L. Hughes 746 Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 Which was my thought. And if this is coming from "above" it would change absolutely nothing. CNN would maintain its current course. One can argue a case against media consolidation (which would mean putting Sinclair/Tribune under the same scrutiny, ha) but to just divest CNN when there is no apparent anti-trust or anti-competitive aspect sounds more like revenge. What does not help was Trump crying last week how much he wants to be in control of DOJ vs. their independence, take part in DOJ activities bcause that is the "fun stuff." That statement, in hindsight, is even more damning today since it may have been a tipoff he wasn't just trying to stop the Russion interference investigation. The court battles over this will be interesting to watch. Trump's dislike of CNN has everything to do with his wishy-washy belief in loyalty, though so is his incomprehension of the First Amendment and respecting the boundaries that go with being a head of state. Trump thinks that since Jeff Zucker (as President of NBC) was the one who greenlit The Apprentice and oversaw it when he was running the network, that he owes Trump biased, favorable coverage now that he's running CNN. (turns on bullhorn) That's not how anything works in America! There are different standards for private and public citizens; if a press agency falsified a story that smeared a private citizen, they have every right to sue. If the same news agency allows criticism of the President of the United States and the President doesn't like the opinions, the President is not supposed to react to it in any way other than expressing his beliefs in words (and not in the Nixonian manner that Trump has been doing, but with reserved, constructive criticism). Otherwise, it verges on becoming a First Amendment issue. The President is not supposed to violate the First Amendment in any way, as it explicitly protects the public (as well as corporate interests) from any retaliation by the U.S. Government. Trump is still in that private citizen mindset and, unfortunately, few in the Government are telling him to stop trying to cross that boundary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlnews2 557 Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 AT&T says they are willing to go to court to get the merger done. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/09/att-t-ceo-time-warner-deal-litigation-244749 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NowBergen 485 Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 Stephenson has vehemently stated he never has offered to sell off CNN to get the deal done. Without Turner or DirecTV, there is no basis for the merger going forward. Why isn't anyone mentioning that the DOJ is not treating Sinclair Tribune the same, which has a higher concern of anticompetitiveness not to mention violating existing ownership regulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detroiter313 178 Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 I wonder if those mega-deals (Sinclair/Tribune and AT&T/Time Warner) would end up in court soon.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Trump's dislike of CNN has everything to do with his wishy-washy belief in loyalty, though so is his incomprehension of the First Amendment and respecting the boundaries that go with being a head of state. Trump thinks that since Jeff Zucker (as President of NBC) was the one who greenlit The Apprentice and oversaw it when he was running the network, that he owes Trump biased, favorable coverage now that he's running CNN. (turns on bullhorn) That's not how anything works in America! There are different standards for private and public citizens; if a press agency falsified a story that smeared a private citizen, they have every right to sue. If the same news agency allows criticism of the President of the United States and the President doesn't like the opinions, the President is not supposed to react to it in any way other than expressing his beliefs in words (and not in the Nixonian manner that Trump has been doing, but with reserved, constructive criticism). Otherwise, it verges on becoming a First Amendment issue. The President is not supposed to violate the First Amendment in any way, as it explicitly protects the public (as well as corporate interests) from any retaliation by the U.S. Government. Trump is still in that private citizen mindset and, unfortunately, few in the Government are telling him to stop trying to cross that boundary. That's not what I got from observing the media's coverage of Trump. And honestly, I'm more worried about Google censorship than I am about CNN being separated from Turner upon merging with AT&T. CNN can say goodbye to Turner for all I care, because at this point, I don't care what happens to CNN as long as Google doesn't start censoring people. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if Sinclair becomes interested in buying CNN (and possibly Turner as a whole) should it become available. They'd get to have their right-wing cable news channel without having to build it. Three of them, even, if you count HLN and CNN International.Probably not. They're more likely to turn NewsChannel 8 into a national channel, thus turning the big 3, into the big 4 cable news networks, than buying CNN. Especially considering that if the Tribune/Sinclair merger goes through, they will for sure have a duopoly partner for WJLA and put the newscasts there instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalItalian2 163 Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Glad to see Matt Drudge's tweet today at Jeff Zucker is out no matter what Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4158 Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Why isn't anyone mentioning that the DOJ is not treating Sinclair Tribune the same, which has a higher concern of anticompetitiveness not to mention violating existing ownership regulations. That alone would be the linchpin in any court action AT&T files. It’s different government entities, but Trump and his minions are bending over backwards to greenlight an illegal and illegitimate merger for one company, while derailing another merger for unspecified reasons. This better not have nothing to do with Trump’s pathetic vendetta against a cable network, but would anyone be surprised he’d be that vain and narcissistic? AT&T has a good shot at fighting this in court. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalItalian2 163 Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 That alone would be the linchpin in any court action AT&T files. It’s different government entities, but Trump and his minions are bending over backwards to greenlight an illegal and illegitimate merger for one company, while derailing another merger for unspecified reasons. This better not have nothing to do with Trump’s pathetic vendetta against a cable network, but would anyone be surprised he’d be that vain and narcissistic? AT&T has a good shot at fighting this in court. Just the opposite. The government has a good case to get remedy now...not years or decades down the line. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/technology/justice-department-antitrust.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.L. Hughes 746 Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Satellite Business News outlines the dispute between AT&T and the DOJ over the Time Warner merger. The report states that the DOJ indicated to AT&T that a sale of either DirecTV or the entire Turner Broadcasting System unit, including CNN (the report erroneously names HBO as being part of Turner, when it actually operates under a separate TW unit, Home Box Office Inc.). I think any sale of either property might be a dealbreaker for AT&T, since the reason it bought Time Warner in the first place was to synergize its cable television unit with DirecTV... essentially operating in a similar manner to AT&T's Canadian equivalent, BCE Inc., which has a slate of cable channels, a broadcast network (CTV), many television and radio stations, and a satellite provider, among other properties. And, AT&T Chairman Randall Stephenson says he's willing to sue the Justice Department to stop the deal from being blocked, adding yet another lawsuit that the Trump Administration has to defend; seriously, depending on how long he stays in office, Trump could rack up about half as many lawsuits as he's filed or have had filed against him as a private citizen while he's still president (which a certain show carried on a Time Warner network ). http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/108786/behind-the-dispute-over-the-atttw-deal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 And, AT&T Chairman Randall Stephenson says he's willing to sue the Justice Department to stop the deal from being blocked, adding yet another lawsuit that the Trump Administration has to defend; seriously, depending on how long he stays in office, Trump could rack up about half as many lawsuits as he's filed or have had filed against him as a private citizen while he's still president (which a certain show carried on a Time Warner network ). The Obama administration was too busy suing it's own citizens and business...much better to defend a few routine lawsuits than to destroy your own countries trade and commerce. Tell Mr. Stephenson to quit running his mouth in the media with threats to file suit...Just file the lawsuit! Who wins??? The shareholders...or the rate payers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalItalian2 163 Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Can these stories get any more silly? Now Reuters is claiming one of their sources says Rupert Murdoch approached AT&T to buy CNN. Then they have another one of their "sources" deny it in the same article. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cnn-murdoch-exclusive/exclusive-rupert-murdoch-twice-discussed-cnn-with-att-ceo-sources-idUSKBN1DA2PY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 The Obama administration was too busy suing it's own citizens and business...much better to defend a few routine lawsuits than to destroy your own countries trade and commerce. Tell Mr. Stephenson to quit running his mouth in the media with threats to file suit...Just file the lawsuit! Who wins??? The shareholders...or the rate payers? Yeah, the Bush and Obama administrations sucked, but that's another thread. Although, why didn't people stop the media mergers that happened under their administrations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4158 Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 Although, why didn't people stop the media mergers that happened under their administrations? The majority of Sinclair's past transactions took full advantage of loopholes in the extant ownership rules and the obsolete UHF Discount when it was initially in effect. Yes, the Allbritton merger had a decent amount of opposition, but it was deemed passable by the DOJ after the maneuvering in Birmingham and Charleston were technical resolutions. For all intents and purposes, this mess was 20 years in the making with the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oklahomanewsman 210 Posted November 12, 2017 Share Posted November 12, 2017 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-12/u-s-is-said-to-suggest-ways-at-t-could-win-time-warner-approval Now Antitrust officials are suggesting a sale of CNN, TNT, TBS, TruTV, etc. to another company then forming a joint venture with that company but they have not discussed scenarios where they either sell Turner or DirecTV. President Trump has indicated that the Justice Department will sue to block the merger saying “it will probably end up being maybe litigation.” Another thing to note is should a case proceed it could take several months to reach a decision, after which either side could appeal, further delaying a decision about the proposed deal, which is already more than a year in the works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4158 Posted November 12, 2017 Share Posted November 12, 2017 "Turner Broadcasting" is much more than CNN or the cable networks. It's the entire MGM back catalog pre-1986, the 1933-1948 Warner Bros. cartoon library, the majority of Hanna-Barbera's library, etc. Those properties are ridiculously valuable and were a big reason why AT&T wanted TimeWarner. Without those, the deal is dead. The properties are also inseperable. You cannot sell CNN by itself because it is so deeply intertwined with the entire Turner corporate unit. Likewise, TimeWarner can't just elect to retain the back catalogues and libraries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1944 Posted November 12, 2017 Share Posted November 12, 2017 "Turner Broadcasting" is much more than CNN or the cable networks. It's the entire MGM back catalog pre-1986, the 1933-1948 Warner Bros. cartoon library, the majority of Hanna-Barbera's library, etc. Those properties are ridiculously valuable and were a big reason why AT&T wanted TimeWarner. Without those, the deal is dead. The properties are also inseperable. You cannot sell CNN by itself because it is so deeply intertwined with the entire Turner corporate unit. Likewise, TimeWarner can't just elect to retain the back catalogues and libraries. Those catalogues mentioned are now part of the Warner Bros. unit of TW. The Turner unit just have those cable networks. And HBO is its own unit (I wish some of the press would stop grouping HBO with those other cable networks). But the Turner and the Warner units are so interconnected, you just can't break one without the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 Those catalogues mentioned are now part of the Warner Bros. unit of TW. Correct! If you look up trademarks relating to The Wizard of Oz, Tom and Jerry, or anything Hanna-Barbera owns, you'll see that Turner Entertainment and Hanna-Barbera are located at WB's address. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1944 Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Looks like the DOJ is ready to file that suit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess 1110 Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Looks like the DOJ is ready to file that suit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha 2876 Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Get out the boxing gloves, ring and bell. And maybe drag Michael Buffer to yell "Let's Get Ready to Rumble!" at the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NowBergen 485 Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Trump's big uncensored mouth and tweets have already been used to justify actions against him. I would not be surprised that his railing against CNN, calling them fake news, etc. is not going to help the DOJ out at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broadcastfan9751 136 Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 It's official. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSSZNews 1046 Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Silver lining: I'd love to see if they pass off some "monopoly" justification for it, because if so, I could maybe see this holding up the Sinclair deal, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Silver lining: I'd love to see if they pass off some "monopoly" justification for it, because if so, I could maybe see this holding up the Sinclair deal, too. These mergers are not yet creating monopolies. Mono=Singular=Sole Not yet. Remember AT&T was huge compared to GTE back in the 80's...AT&T ruled the entire telco world. With cable we are just NOT there yet. Still plenty of options available to the consumer....plenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4158 Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Silver lining: I'd love to see if they pass off some "monopoly" justification for it, because if so, I could maybe see this holding up the Sinclair deal, too. Any scenario where the DOJ is ordered not to treat Sinclair with a set of kid gloves is borderline implausible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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