Oops! The Senate Just Summoned the Wrong Time Warner
28 October 2016 - 7:27AM
Dow Jones News
By Shalini Ramachandran
Even the Senate can't keep the two Time Warner companies
straight.
Jeff Bewkes, chief executive of Time Warner Inc., still can't
escape the nightmarish confusion between his company, which owns
HBO, CNN and Warner Bros., and Time Warner Cable, the cable and
internet provider that recently sold itself to Charter
Communications Inc.
Despite striking an $85.4 billion deal with AT&T Inc. over
the weekend, Mr. Bewkes was unceremoniously left out of a release
from the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, which said the
CEOs of both companies would testify at a hearing on the proposed
deal.
The reason? The four top Republicans and Democrats leading the
Senate Judiciary Committee and its antitrust subcommittee
accidentally invited Time Warner Cable's former CEO Rob Marcus
instead.
"Both Randall Stephenson, the CEO of AT&T, and Robert
Marcus, the CEO of Time Warner, will testify," the release said.
The hearing announcement was sent by Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen.
Patrick Leahy, Sen. Mike Lee and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
It's far from the first time someone has confused the two
companies.
It's been a bit of a headache for AT&T and Time Warner over
the last several dizzying days since they announced their
megamerger. Not only have they been clobbered by opposition from
politicians including Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, but many
consumers have tweeted and emailed reporters at The Wall Street
Journal confusing the two companies. It doesn't help that Time
Warner Cable had a long history as one of the most-hated companies
in America known for its poor customer service.
Senior executives at Time Warner were chuckling on Thursday
afternoon as they read the antitrust committee release. For days,
they have suspected that at least part of the backlash stemmed from
politicians confusing Time Warner with Time Warner Cable.
Earlier this week, AT&T tried to clear up the issue in a
filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Time Warner
Inc. should not be confused with Time Warner Cable, which is a
distinct, independent company owned by Charter Communications," the
filing explained. "In 2008, Time Warner and Time Warner Cable
announced a complete legal and structural separation of the
companies. That separation was completed in 2009, and the companies
have been completely separate and independent entities ever
since."
Clearly, the lawmakers haven't stayed up-to-date with their SEC
filings.
The Journal earlier this year wrote about how Mr. Bewkes would
like to be thought of as the "Game of Thrones" guy. But to many, he
is, unfortunately, the Cable Guy.
Mr. Marcus left Time Warner Cable after the Charter deal
closed.
The hearing is slated for Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. in the Judiciary
Committee hearing room. The Senate better get Mr. Bewkes his
invite.
--Thomas Gryta contributed to this article.
Write to Shalini Ramachandran at
shalini.ramachandran@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 27, 2016 16:12 ET (20:12 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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