AT&T and DOJ repeated their well-trod arguments in dueling final briefs filed Thursday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see here and here, in Pacer, docket 18-5214) in DOJ's challenge of AT&T buying Time Warner. The briefs only added page numbers, otherwise, they were the same. AT&T said DOJ wrongly paints a caricature of the U.S. District Court decision allowing the deal when the lower court "well understood" the economics underlying Justice's hypothetical bargaining theory. The department said the appeal "will shape the future of the media and telecommunications industries for decades to come," setting the standard for determining whether to allow vertical combinations that end up controlling valuable programming content and distribution routes. The FCC, the American Cable Association and an array of antitrust scholars -- all of which previously filed amicus briefs (see 1808140001) -- recapped their arguments in final amicus briefs (see here, here and here).

DOJ's continuing to oppose AT&T's buy of Time Warner "is rather unusual" because there's no clear antitrust principle and the department must show the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that lower court approval was clearly erroneous, Free State Foundation academic adviser Ted Bolema wrote Thursday. He noted U.S. District Judge Richard Leon took the odd step of explicitly discouraging Justice from appealing.

Oral argument on DOJ's appeal of the U.S. District Court approval of AT&T buying Time Warner is Dec. 6 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, said a clerk's order Wednesday (in Pacer, docket 18-5214).

Scripps hopes to close before year's end on a $150 million cash purchase of digital audio technology company Triton, it said Wednesday. It said Triton, which is used in streaming music and podcasting applications, gives it a bigger footprint as it looks to expand its digital audio play. Scripps CEO Adam Symson said TV station acquisition is still its top merger-and-acquisitions priority.

Broadcom’s $18.9 billion buy of CA Technologies received European antitrust approval, Broadcom told the SEC Friday (see 1808240028). The decision was the final regulatory hurdle, and Broadcom expects the deal to close by Nov. 5.

DOJ should make clear it won't approve Fox regional sports networks -- to be sold by Disney as part of Disney/Fox (see 1806270016) -- being bought by a same-market big four broadcaster or MVPD, the American Cable Association said in a letter to the agency Monday. It said a broadcaster buying a Fox RSN would let a single firm threaten to withhold two sets of must-have programming, leading to higher MVPD licensing fees, while a pay-TV company purchase would create a vertical integration problem of higher MVPD licensing fees due to the increased leverage to threaten to withhold RSN content from rival subscription video providers. Disney didn't comment.

Comcast and Fox have finalized a deal for Fox's minority stake in Sky, Comcast said Thursday. It said in an SEC filing that it will purchase Fox's 672.78 million common shares of Sky -- representing a 39.12 percent ownership stake -- for roughly $15.13 billion. It said the sale is scheduled to close Tuesday. Fox and Comcast had been in a bidding war for Sky, until Fox said it wouldn't make a counteroffer to a Comcast auction bid accepted by Sky's independent committee (see 1809260019).

Private equity firm Kingswood Capital Management acquired Houston-based Wave Electronics and will merge Wave with its Avad distribution company, making the combined operation the largest value-added distributor of high-end audio, video, security and home automation solutions in the CE industry, said Kingswood Wednesday. The new company, based in Houston, will focus on the residential and commercial custom installation markets in North America. Mark Fukuda, Wave chief operating officer, is the CEO for the combined enterprise; Bill Steckel, chief finance officer; Ainslie Fukuda, vice president-purchasing; Bryan Stewart, vice president-sales; and Jon Zabel, vice president-vendor management, it said. Tom Jacoby, who was AVAD's CEO, is chairman of the combined company.

Citing concerns a "retaliatory motive is ... infecting regulatory enforcement decisions that affect the press," the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as part of its handling of the AT&T/Time Warner appeal to clarify the standard for discovery where selective enforcement of antitrust laws could chill reporting. An amicus brief (in Pacer, docket 18-5214) Thursday in favor of neither DOJ nor AT&T/TW said the lower court -- in denying discovery on whether supposed White House animus toward TW's CNN resulted in DOJ opposition to AT&T/TW -- used an erroneous standard that makes it potentially impossible for news organizations to get discovery. DOJ didn't comment Friday.

Americans for Limited Government (ALG) is urging the House Commerce Committee to investigate anti-competitive effects of Comcast's buy of NBCUniversal, saying it expects the end result likely will be either a Comcast/NBCU breakup or reimposing the FCC conditions that expired in January (see 1801220030). In a letter to committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Vice Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, dated Monday and released Thursday, ALG said at the very least, Comcast/NBCU should be forced to submit to the same arbitration terms that AT&T has committed to in its buy of Time Warner. Comcast didn't comment.