AT&T, Time Warner CEOs Set to Testify on Deal Before Senate Dec. 7

Less than a week since AT&T announced its $108.7 billion purchase of Time Warner, Congress scheduled its first oversight hearing on the deal. The Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee will hold an AT&T/Time Warner oversight hearing at 2 p.m. Dec. 7, a Republican aide told us Wednesday. Subcommittee leaders announced the desire to hold a hearing before the weekend was over, seen as especially rare speed during a recess period, Communications Daily reported Monday (see here).

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes have now agreed to testify, the aide said. Subcommittee Chairman Mike Lee, R-Utah, and ranking member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., originally said Sunday that they wanted to hold the hearing in November. Spokesmen for the companies had no immediate comment.

No similar House Judiciary Committee hearing has been announced. An aide has said a hearing is possible.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., meanwhile offered further caution about the acquisition. Warren wrote a Facebook post and Sanders issued a statement. Free Press is rallying support for a petition aimed at Congress urging for a block of the deal. AT&T has defended the deal, which it says isn't consolidation.