Some Politicians and Advocacy Groups Cautiously Praise DOJ’s AT&T Lawsuit

CNN cited Ryan Radia on the lack of impact a merger between the merger of AT&T-Time Warner and the merger being a vertical transaction which has no impact on competition.

When the Justice Department sued to block AT&T’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner, open-media advocacy groups and some politicians found themselves in an interesting position: Praising President Trump’s DOJ for tough antitrust enforcement while cautioning that they were still concerned there were politics at play in the decision.

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Not everyone was pleased with the lawsuit. Some experts from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative group, criticized it. CEI Research Fellow and Regulatory Counsel Ryan Radia called it “misguided.”

“The AT&T-Time Warner merger is a vertical transaction that wouldn’t reduce competition in any distinct market,” Radia wrote. “Under established antitrust principles, the government will have a difficult time showing a court that the deal is likely to harm consumers. And for an administration that’s touted its efforts to cut unnecessary regulation, seeking to block a potentially beneficial merger is inconsistent with letting American businesses thrive and innovate.”

Read the full article at CNN.