By Tali Arbel, AP Technology Writer
U.S. antitrust regulators have not challenged the $43 billion combination of Discovery and AT&T's WarnerMedia during a key review period, according to corporate securities filings, easing the way for the deal to close in the next few months.
In a big retreat for wireless giant AT&T, the company last year decided to separate WarnerMedia, which it bought in 2018 for $81 billion after a protracted antitrust battle with the Trump-era Justice Department. WarnerMedia, home to CNN, HBO and HBO Max, would then combine with Discovery, the parent of networks like HGTV and its own streaming service, Discovery+.
Discovery Inc. said in a Wednesday filing that it and AT&T Inc. have not gotten objections from the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission during a key review period that has ended. U.S. antitrust authorities could still decide to file suit, but that is uncommon. European antitrust regulators have already signed off, and the deal is expected to close in the second quarter. Discovery shareholders still have to approve it.
FTC spokesperson Betsy Lordan said the the FTC only announces when it is issuing a complaint. DOJ spokesperson Arlen Morales declined to comment. AT&T referred questions to Discovery.
The deal had not gone without criticism. Democratic lawmakers in December asked DOJ to take a hard look at the merger, saying it raises "significant antitrust concerns" and could threaten the industry's workplace diversity efforts.
The Biden administration has called for a tougher version of antitrust enforcement and sued to stop a proposed $2.2 billion acquisition of Simon & Schuster by German media giant Bertelsmann's Penguin Random House, while also pursuing an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook, now known as Meta, that could result in spinoffs of some of its businesses.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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