Rupert Murdoch 'interested in buying CNN' after reports Trump administration may force AT&T to sell it

Mr Murdoch reportedly called AT&T's chief executive twice in the last six months and talked about CNN

Rupert Murdoch attends the 2017 Metropolitan Opera Opening Night at The Metropolitan Opera House (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images) (Getty)

Rupert Murdoch is said to be interested in buying CNN – which, if true, could prove to be an interesting development given Mr Murdoch's reported close association with Donald Trump, who has repeatedly railed against the network.

The news comes after reports saying Mr Trump's administration may force AT&T to ditch the network to receive antitrust approval of its $85.4bn deal with Time Warner.

According to Reuters, Mr Murdoch called AT&T chief executive Randall Stephenson twice in the last six months and talked about CNN.

One of the outlet's sources said Mr Murdoch offered to buy CNN in both conversations, while another source said the 86-year-old executive chairman of Twenty-First Century Fox had "zero interest" in owning the network.

It would not be the first time Mr Murdoch has expressed interest in taking over CNN.

In 2014, Twenty-First Century Fox proposed buying Time Warner for $80bn. But the company abandoned the plan in the face of Time Warner’s resistance, Reuters said.

If the companies had stuck a deal, Fox had planned to sell CNN - which competes directly with Fox News - to avoid antitrust issues.

Over the past year, AT&T's proposed merger with mass media company Time Warner has received significant antitrust scrutiny.

When the telecommunications giant and Time Warner announced their deal last October, then-candidate Trump said his administration would never approve such a combination "because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few."

This week, news outlets reported that the Justice Department has recommended AT&T sell either its DirecTV unit or Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting unit - which includes CNN - to gain antitrust approval of the merger.

The agency's reservations about approving the tie-up appear to stem from concerns about how competition could be harmed by the consolidation of AT&T's distribution platforms with Time Warner's wide range of content.

A longtime news executive told the Daily Beast that the DOJ's request is "politics plain and simple", noting that Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked CNN as "fake news".