AT&T Willing To Make Concessions

AT&T Inc’s proposed seven-year ban on programming blackouts to distributors of some Time Warner Inc content shows that the company is willing to offer concessions to close its $85.4 billion bid for the programmer, AT&T’s chief executive officer said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Justice last week sued AT&T to block its planned acquisition of Time Warner, saying the combination could raise prices for rivals and pay-TV subscribers while hampering the development of online video.

“We’re prepared to make concessions,” AT&T’s CEO, Randall Stephenson, said at an Economic Club of New York luncheon. “What we put in the filing is a concession.”

Reuters report U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, in Washington, D.C., who is overseeing hear the case filed by the Justice Department, on Wednesday set the first pre-trial hearing for Dec. 7.