U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of Washington denied a sealed DOJ motion to preclude defendants AT&T and Time Warner from presenting at trial evidence of its "baseball-style" arbitration offer, which Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote investors Wednesday is a positive sign for the deal. An unsealed version of the motion (in Pacer) filed Tuesday said conditions offered after Justice sued to block the telco buying TW (see 1711280063) don't change the structure of the proposed deal and are inconsistent with the structural focus of the Clayton Act and irrelevant. Leon's docket 17-2511 minute order (in Pacer) Tuesday also denied a motion by a group of former DOJ officials seeking to file an amicus brief in the department's lawsuit (see 1803090022). The order didn't give reasons for the actions. Watchdog group Protect Democracy Project, representing the former DOJ officials, didn't comment Wednesday.

Broadcom took the fight over its takeover bid for Qualcomm to Capitol Hill, sending 15 lawmakers with oversight of the transaction a letter Friday aimed at easing concerns about the proposal after the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States determined earlier in the week that “China would likely compete robustly to fill any void left by Qualcomm [in 5G development] as a result of this hostile takeover.” Qualcomm has been fighting the bid (see 1802050042, 1802160041 and 1802220057). Broadcom “is committed to making the United States the global leader in 5G,” said CEO Hock Tan in the letter to lawmakers. “Any notion that a combined Broadcom-Qualcomm would slash funding or cede leadership in 5G is completely unfounded.” Tan noted a majority of Broadcom's employees and investors are U.S. citizens or are based in the U.S. He also argued Qualcomm “faces a number of challenges that hamper its role in developing 5G” if it's allowed to remain a stand-alone firm.

The federal court hearing the DOJ's lawsuit seeking to block AT&T's buy of Time Warner should allow discovery to determine the existence and scope of any improper White House interference in DOJ's handling of that deal and subsequent litigation, watchdog group Protect Democracy Project (PDP) said in a proposed docket 17-cv-2511 amicus brief (in Pacer) filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. In a related motion asking for leave to file the brief in support of neither party, PDP said it's made up of nine former DOJ officials, including Preet Bharara, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and John Dean, who was White House counsel to President Richard Nixon. PDP said it's concerned about White House interference in the DOJ suit, and the court has a variety of "doctrinal tools" for redress, including application of a presumption of vindictiveness that would require the DOJ justify its position by providing information about the constitutional legitimacy of its action. PDP also said the court could require the agency to reconsider the case with a different team more insulated from the White House, or dismiss the lawsuit under the unclean hands doctrine or as unlawful selective enforcement. And PDP said the court could put the burden on the DOJ to show it isn't punishing content protected by the First Amendment. DOJ didn't comment Friday. PDP also sued the DOJ seeking White House communications on AT&T/TW (see 1803060004).

The bench trial on AT&T's proposed buy of Time Warner starting March 19 is expected to last 15 days, according to a docket 17-cv-2511 supplemental scheduling order (in Pacer) issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of Washington.

Comcast's cable side has enjoyed stable growth, while the prospects of its NBCUniversal business are less clear given media industry struggles with changing monetization models and new competition from deep-pocketed entrants, New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin wrote investors Thursday. He said a Comcast bid for Fox and Sky, conditioned on a spinoff of its cable business, would ease regulatory concerns about a Fox deal. NBCU/Fox "would be the most exciting asset in media" with its studios, channels, theme parks and consumer products, and Comcast Cable would have a clearer path to accelerated financial returns and potentially a merger with Charter Communications, Chaplin said. Comcast didn't comment.

AT&T is considering an initial public offering for a minority interest in DirecTV Latin America. It said Wednesday it filed a registration statement with the SEC on a possible sale of Class A common stock shares of Vrio, its DirecTV Latin America holding company, though that form hasn't become effective.

Sinclair restructured its divestiture plans and will now unload a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-area station and seek top-four duopolies in two markets -- Indianapolis and Greensboro, North Carolina -- instead of three, according to an amendment to its FCC application. Sinclair had been seeking to own two top-four stations in the Harrisburg market (see 1802210062). The changes come after a conference call with Media Bureau staff in which Sinclair said it would make changes to its application (see 1803060037). The latest amendment also includes changes to Sinclair’s plans if it doesn’t receive FCC permission for the two proposed duopolies. Under the previous plan, unspecified stations in those markets would have gone into the divestiture trust if the FCC rejected the top-four proposals. If the FCC rejects the plan under the March amendment, Sinclair instead wants the agency to allow its takeover of Tribune to close, but grant it temporary waivers to continue to operate the duopolies until it can sell some of the stations. The waivers are appropriate since this will be the first request for permission to own top-four duopolies under the new rules in the media ownership reconsideration order, Sinclair said in the amendment. “Temporary waivers would be appropriate given the uncertainty in the outcome and potential for resulting delay.” The March amendment also changes the way Sinclair characterizes the divestiture trust: In a footnote, Sinclair anticipates it will have already signed purchase agreements with third parties to sell all the stations being divested before they go into the trust. Opponents of Sinclair/Tribune have been critical of a lack of specificity in Sinclair’s divestiture plans (see 1802280047). Sinclair didn’t comment. Sinclair’s amended filing "remains just another smoke and mirrors plan that leaves many more questions than answers," said Sinclair/Tribune deal opponent the Coalition to Save Local Media in a news release. Sinclair's divestiture list is a "placeholder" and the filings still show Sinclair will continue to manage some divested stations through sharing agreements, the group said. "The Department of Justice has rejected these types of sham divestitures in recent broadcast-related consent decrees." The FCC shouldn't start the deal's shot clock based on the amendment, and the plan should be put out for public comment, the coalition said.

Saying President Donald Trump may have injected his views into Disney's proposed Fox deal, the nonprofit Protect Democracy Project (PDP) is suing DOJ seeking release of any White House/agency communications on the deal. In a docket 17-cv-506 complaint (in Pacer) filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, PDP said the administration's praise for Disney/Fox contrasts with DOJ attempts to block AT&T/Time Warner and questioned whether that was due to Trump friendliness with Fox News and his antipathy toward TW's CNN. It said it submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to DOJ in December seeking such documentation and hasn't received a response aside from a January letter from Justice's Office of Information Policy acknowledging receipt and indicating a reply will take an unspecified time. Justice didn't comment Tuesday. PDP has a similar suit (in Pacer) pending before the court on July and November FOIA requests it sent DOJ seeking all White House/DOJ communications about AT&T/TW. PDP said DOJ hasn't responded to those requests aside from acknowledging receiving them. Feb. 23, the department said in its docket 17-cv-2409 reply (in Pacer) that PDP isn't entitled to information exempt from FOIA disclosure and that PDP hasn't exhausted administrative remedies. PDP's website describes itself as created by former White House and administration lawyers and focused on legal accountability of the executive branch.

Discovery Communications is now Discovery, after its closing Tuesday on its takeover of Scripps Networks Interactive, Discovery said. DOJ signed off on the $14.6 billion deal last month (see 1802270015).

Sinclair and Tribune will resubmit or amend parts of their application to transfer ownership of stations after a Feb. 28 call with Media Bureau staff, said an FCC filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-179. The call was at the request of FCC staff, the filing said. “Participants discussed FCC policies and procedures applicable to applications filed in connection with the proceeding,” Sinclair said. “The parties advised the FCC staff that they would resubmit or amend certain of those applications accordingly.”