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Time
Warner said that since it does not plan to transfer any Federal
Communications Commission licenses to AT&T, it would likely not
need FCC approval and would only need the consent of the U.S.
Justice Department.
AT&T could forego the FCC by unloading a Time Warner broadcast
station, analysts say. Despite its big media footprint, Time
Warner has only one FCC-regulated broadcast station, WPCH-TV in
Atlanta. But it has other more minor FCC licenses.
Time Warner said in its filing it does not anticipate it "will
not need to transfer any of its FCC licenses to AT&T in order to
continue to conduct its business operations after the closing."
The deal faces other hurdles. For example, President-elect
Donald Trump has said he opposes the merger, and on Friday a
transition official told Reuters that Trump still was against
the deal the deal.
Time Warner shareholders will meet on Feb. 15 to decide whether
to approve the deal.
The Justice Department has to prove a proposed deal harms
competition in order to block it. But the FCC has broad leeway
to block a merger it deems is not in the "public interest" and
can impose additional conditions.
AT&T and Time Warner filed a premerger notification with the
Justice Department on Nov. 4, and on Dec. 8 the Justice
Department issued a second information request.
AT&T, which has repeatedly clashed with the FCC over the past
several years over major industry regulations, said in October
that one benefit of its purchase is that Time Warner is "lightly
regulated compared to much of AT&T's existing operations."
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama and Jeffrey Benkoe)
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