WASHINGTON ¨C The judge who will decide if AT&T will be allowed to buy movie and TV show maker Time Warner indicated on Monday that he could be considering a decision that wasn¡¯t a clear approval or blocking of the $85 billion deal.
In his closing remarks, U.S. Justice Department lawyer Craig Conrath asked for the planned transaction to be stopped. ¡°Consumers will be worse off and that¡¯s why this merger ought to be blocked,¡± he said. In the absence of blocking it, Conrath urged the judge to consider a divestiture, or asset sale.
Judge Richard Leon asked about the possibility of imposing a remedy, like saying the deal could go forward if the companies sell a particular asset. Conrath said that if the judge found the deal to be anti-competitive then he could impose a fix or a remedy.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.