Trump administration 'may force CNN to be sold' as part of $85bn deal

The requirement has left some reportedly scratching their heads

The Department of Justice wants AT&T to sell the cable news network

The Justice Department has reportedly asked AT&T and Time Warner to ditch Turner Broadcasting, a company that owns a suite of cable channels including frequent Donald Trump foil CNN, as a potential requirement before approval of a pending $85.4 billion merger deal between the companies.

Justice Department officials have indicated that selling DirecTV could possibly be another way to win approval, people with knowledge of the deliberations told the New York Times.

The potential requirements lay the groundwork for a fight as the two companies look to merge, making a giant company that could offer wireless and broadband internet services, just as upstarts like Netflix are disrupting the traditional media landscape.

Mr Trump frequently singles out CNN for what he perceives as an anti-Trump bias, and has even tweeted a gif of him beating up the CNN logo.

The President has also criticized the proposal, saying that it is the kind of deal that “destroy democracy”, and said on the 2016 campaign trail that it is the type of “power structure” that he is fighting against.

Analysts have said there are few legal grounds on which to block the merger, in spite of critic concern that the proposal is illustrative of claims that there is too much consolidation in the media and telecommunications industry.

Executives at AT&T had originally hoped to cobble a deal together before the end of the year, but that timeline has been imperilled recently. John Stephens, AT&T’s chief financial officer, said at a recent investor meeting that the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) approval was the only remaining obstacle.

“We are in active discussions with the DOJ,” Mr Stephens said. “I cannot comment on those discussions. But with those discussions, I can now say that the timing of the closing of the deal is now uncertain.”

The chief executive of AT&T, Randall Stephenson, has attended at least two meetings with Mr Trump in the course of negotiating the merger. Just after one of those meetings, Mr Trump took shots at CNN on Twitter, saying “their credibility will soon be gone!” Mr Trump told Mr Stephenson that he was doing a good job after the second meeting.

“I have never offered to sell CNN and have no intention of doing so,” Mr Stephenson said in a statement provided to Reuters following the news that the Justice Department was considering the requirement.

In an email provided by a DOJ spokeswoman, White House spokesman Raj Shah said that Mr Trump "did not speak with the attorney general about this matter," and that "no White House official was authorized to speak with the Department of Justice on this matter."

In a separate statement, DOJ's new antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, said he has "never been instructed by the White House on this or any other transaction under review by the antitrust division."

Executives at both AT&T and Time Warner have reportedly balked at the request to ditch CNN, since the proposal is a “vertical” merger, meaning that they do not currently compete directly.