Lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department and AT&T gave closing arguments on Monday in a trial to determine if the wireless giant, owner of pay-TV provider DirecTV, will be allowed to buy movie and TV show maker Time Warner. The Justice Department sued to block the $85 billion deal, saying it would lead to higher prices for rival pay-TV companies. (New York Post / Reuters)
The Justice Department urged a judge to consider “alternative” remedies if he chooses not to block the merger outright. The government’s comments came as U.S. District Judge Richard Leon set a court hearing for June 12 to announce his ruling in the high-profile case, kicking off a six-week period of anxious waiting for both sides. (WSJ)
Daniel Petrocelli, the lead attorney for the companies, called the government’s case a “house of cards” that hinged on the testimony and economic modeling of a key witness, Carl Shapiro, an economist at University of California at Berkeley. Petrocelli spent much of his closing argument trying to discredit Shapiro’s conclusions that the merger would end up costing pay-TV consumers. (Variety)