When Disney bought assets from Fox in 2018, the Justice Department agreed to allow the deal to move forward except for the assets related to sports, calling them “two of the country’s most valuable cable sports properties.”
The same year, the Justice Department lost its effort to block AT&T Inc.’s merger with Time Warner, arguing the deal would let the telecom giant threaten to withhold programming to maximize its profits. Antitrust enforcers argued that the combination of AT&T’s TV-distribution network with Time Warner’s programming would lead to higher prices for consumers. A judge rejected that argument, and an appeals court upheld his decision.
But within a few years, AT&T spun off the business to Discovery Inc. The Justice Department reviewed the deal and ultimately opted against a challenge, though antitrust enforcers warned the companies they could reopen a probe later if warranted.
The Biden administration has been particularly critical of joint ventures in some markets, breaking up a partnership between American Airlines Group Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp. last year, according to Diana Moss, vice president and director of competition policy at the Progressive Policy Institute.
“They’ve made it look very consumer-friendly in terms of the access issue,” she said. “But as always, the devil is going to be in the details in terms of how hard they compete with each other.”
