Today, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the district court's earlier opinion, which permitted the AT&T/Time Warner merger to proceed, to stay in place. Public Knowledge supported the Justice Department’s challenge of the merger.
The following can be attributed to John Bergmayer, Senior Counsel at Public Knowledge:
“It is disappointing but not surprising that the DC Circuit upheld Judge Richard Leon, as district courts have a great deal of discretion. While the outcome is not what we would have wanted, the court does acknowledge certain errors and omissions made by Judge Leon, and the opinion's scope is limited to a highly specific set of facts and arguments that were discussed during the trial. The opinion should not be read as a broad endorsement of Judge Leon's rose-colored view of the video marketplace, and it provides guidance for how the government can successfully challenge future anticompetitive vertical mergers.”
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