If the U.S. Justice Department were to sue over its demands that AT&T sell Turner (owner of CNN and other channels) or DirecTV in order to have its $85 billion purchase of Time Warner approved, as reported Wednesday, lawyers say the regulators will be fighting decades of precedent.
Why it matters: Speculation is swirling about the DOJ's motives, in light of President Trump's campaign trail promise to block the deal, and his vocal disdain for CNN's coverage.
Theory of the case: Critics of the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger argue that a combination of companies in different but related markets (i.e., a vertical deal) can be as harmful as a horizontal combination of two companies that compete directly with one another.
Where it gets complicated: For decades, antitrust regulators have worried more about horizontal mergers than vertical ones, and courts have generally backed up that approach.
The bottom line: The transaction is unexpectedly imperiled and may head into uncharted territory, were it to spark a lawsuit over over the right way to police competition.
Go deeper: The New York Times has a rundown of the different stories emerging from Ma Bell and DOJ.
