“This merger would greatly harm American consumers,” the Justice Department’s antitrust chief Makan Delrahim said in a statement. “It would mean higher monthly television bills and fewer of the new, emerging innovative options that consumers are beginning to enjoy.”
A good reason to be suspicious, however, is that the Trump administration seems to be favoring big business and big corporations in every other case. If their reasons are sincere, why aren't they blocking the Sinclair/Tribune merger which gives the merged company a virtual monopoly on local television stations?
This move feels more like the Trump administration is trying to bigfoot CNN, a frequent Trump critic. CNN is part of Time Warner, and Trump has tweeted about them more than anyone else (other than his vanquished opponent). If you think there's something unseemly about a President going after one of his critics using the levers of government, you aren't alone. It was one of the impeachment charges against Nixon.
But by arguing on anti-trust grounds, the Justice Department is on solid legal ground. This proposed merger is three times the size of the Comcast/NBC merger, which I was against at the time on anti-trust grounds.
Keep an eye on this case.
If they later demand that they'll accept the merger only if CNN is spun off and sold to someone else (like Rupert Murdoch for instance who is hovering like a vulture), then we'll know they're full of shit.
