AT&T
Not a news outlet; U.S. telecommunications corporation
Background
AT&T traces back to the Bell Telephone Company of 1877 and became the dominant U.S. telephone monopoly. The government broke up that monopoly in 1984. SBC Communications later bought the AT&T name and merged with it in 2005. In 2018, AT&T completed its roughly $85 billion purchase of Time Warner, which brought in CNN, HBO and Warner Bros. The Justice Department sued to block the deal and lost at trial and on appeal. Critics at the time asked whether a distributor owning a news network could influence its coverage. In April 2022, AT&T spun off WarnerMedia to its shareholders, and it merged with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery, which now owns CNN. AT&T has since refocused on wireless, fiber and connectivity, and has been selling or exiting media and international assets, including its DirecTV stake. As a regulated carrier, it lobbies on spectrum, merger approvals and telecom policy, and it deals with whichever administration is in office. Any news-style content on its channels is corporate communication, so AT&T has no editorial orientation toward the administration to describe. For readers who meant a news outlet, the relevant entity is probably CNN or another Warner Bros. Discovery property, not AT&T.
Sources
- AT&T to spin off WarnerMedia in $43 billion Discovery media merger, cuts dividend (CNBC)
- Discovery's bid to merge with WarnerMedia wins final government approval (CNN)
- AT&T Inc. Form 8-K (SEC)
- Acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T (Wikipedia)
- Warner Bros. Discovery (Wikipedia)
Profile compiled 2026-10-22; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.