AT&T-Time Warner to face big regulatory test

New York

A CABLE and Internet provider decides to buy an entertainment conglomerate.

The merger is met with scepticism by industry analysts and outrage by consumer groups, who complain that it would thwart competition, create unfair pricing and incite more media consolidation.

That was 2009, when the cable giant Comcast announced it would acquire NBCUniversal.

When the next administration in Washington takes up the US$85.4 billion deal between AT&T and Time Warner that was announced on Saturday evening, the Comcast acquisition will be used as the lens to examine the changing media landscape.

In the end, the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) a…