Turner Chief Pushes Back on Core Justice Dept. Argument

Turner Chief Pushes Back on Core Justice Dept. Argument
The Justice Department called on Mr. Martin as an adversarial witness in large part to present emails and memos he wrote
that revealed how important Turner content is to Time Warner’s business, and how critical Turner is for cable and satellite operators.
WASHINGTON — The head of Turner Broadcasting on Wednesday pushed back against one of the central arguments of the government’s case to block the AT&T and Time Warner merger, saying
that his company’s channels would not be used as a weapon against rivals if the deal went through.
The Justice Department has argued that Turner, which is owned by Time Warner, owns “must-have” channels like CNN and TNT
that the merged company would use as leverage in negotiations with other cable and satellite TV operators.
“Must-have is another way of saying we have popular programming.”
Much of the Justice Department’s argument in the trial, which started last week, has centered on the importance
of Turner’s exclusive sports rights, which include professional and college basketball games.
During cross-examination by AT&T, Mr. Martin disputed the government’s idea
that the merger would give AT&T the incentive to use Turner Broadcasting as a negotiating weapon to extract higher fees from cable, satellite and online streaming providers.
Mr. Martin, who joined Time Warner in 1993, was one of the first witnesses called by the Justice Department.