{"id":22963,"date":"2017-02-24T06:22:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T06:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=22963"},"modified":"2017-02-24T06:22:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T06:22:00","slug":"time-warner-sell-tv-station-seeks-att-merger-ok","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/business\/time-warner-sell-tv-station-seeks-att-merger-ok.html","title":{"rendered":"Time Warner to sell TV station as it seeks AT&T merger OK"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTime Warner to sell TV station as it seeks AT&T merger OK<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
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\n\tTime Warner to sell TV station as it seeks AT&T merger OK:-<\/strong> Time Warner Inc (TWX.N) said on Thursday it plans to sell a broadcast station in Atlanta to Meredith Corp (MDP.N) for $70 million, which could help speed the company's planned merger with AT&T Inc (T.N).<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn January, AT&T said it expected to be able to bypass the Federal Communications Commission in its planned $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner because it would not seek to transfer any Time Warner licenses.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFCC Chairman Ajit Pai declined to say on Thursday if he would seek to use the proposed TV station license transfer as a way to examine the AT&T\/Time Warner merger. About a dozen senators have urged him to review the deal.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe station that Time Warner is selling, WPCH-TV in Atlanta, is its only FCC-regulated broadcast station. It has other, more minor FCC licenses.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMeredith has operated WPCH-TV for Time Warner since 2011. It <\/span><\/span>was previously know<\/span><\/span> as WTBS.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTime Warner said last month that since it did not plan to transfer any FCC licenses to AT&T, it would likely not need FCC approval and would only need the consent of the U.S. Justice Department.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Justice Department has to prove a proposed deal harms competition in order to block it. The FCC has broad leeway to block a merger it deems is not in the "public interest" and can impose additional conditions.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMeredith said in a statement it expected to close <\/span><\/span>on <\/span><\/span>the sale by June 30 and that the deal would not have a material impact on its results.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson told CNBC earlier this month the Justice Department review was ongoing and he thought the deal would close by the end of the year. "It's a clean transaction," he said.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSource:- http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-timewarner-att-idUSKBN16228P<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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