Turner Chief Pushes Back on Core Justice Department Argument

The head of Turner Broadcasting 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. But John Martin, the chief executive of Turner, told a federal court that his channels were not absolutely vital for a cable or satellite business. “I believe we have must-have, as do other programmers,” Martin said. “Must-have is another way of saying we have popular programming.” Much of the Justice Department’s argument in the trial has centered on the importance of Turner’s exclusive sports rights, which include professional and college basketball games. Martin’s testimony had been one of the most anticipated moments of the trial. The Justice Department called on 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.