Washington/New York — AT&T and Time Warner say they can avoid having the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) scrutinise their proposed merger, eliminating a significant hurdle in the path of the $85.4bn deal that has attracted criticism from president-elect Donald Trump. "While subject to change, it is currently anticipated that Time Warner will not need to transfer any of its FCC licences to AT&T in order to continue to conduct its business operations after the closing of the transaction," the companies said in a regulatory filing dated Thursday. Time Warner has been looking to transfer or sell its licences to another broadcaster for some time, according to a person familiar with the matter. Time Warner can contract with third parties instead of owning the licences, the person said. Avoiding the FCC could be key to the deal progressing. The FCC can be a harsher judge than the US justice department, which is to review the transaction and has asked for detailed information, po...
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