FOX Fox Corporation

By Drew FitzGerald 

President Trump suggested customers stop using AT&T Inc.'s services to force its CNN unit to cover him more favorably, renewing his attacks on the cable news network in a pair of tweets.

The president wrote on Twitter that AT&T "would be forced to make big changes" at CNN if people stopped subscribing to the company's services, and that CNN "is dying in the ratings anyway." He added: "When the World watches @CNN, it gets a false picture of USA. Sad."

The president was writing Monday during a state visit to the United Kingdom, where rival Fox News isn't generally carried. Fox Corp. and Wall Street Journal owner News Corp. share common ownership.

The tweets revived a topic that has frustrated AT&T executives since they first announced their plans in late 2016 to acquire CNN along with a string of other cable channels and film-and-TV studio assets.

Then-candidate Trump said at the time he wouldn't allow the telecom giant to buy CNN owner Time Warner because it would put too much power in the hands of a single company.

The U.S. Department of Justice later sued to block AT&T's purchase of the media company on antitrust grounds. The companies tried to make allegations of improper political interference a plank of their defense but were blocked by the federal judge overseeing the case.

AT&T won the case anyway last June, allowing the cellphone carrier and pay-TV provider to become a major player in the American media landscape.

The president has made no secret of his dislike of CNN programming. In 2017, he tweeted a wrestling video that showed him punching a figure with the CNN logo. He often calls the channel's reporting "fake news" and praises Fox News's more favorable coverage of his administration.

Mr. Trump's public statements rarely link CNN to its parent, though the Dallas company's executives have long suspected that the news service influenced the administration's effort to block their deal.

"One has to question [whether there was] political motivation behind this," AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said during a March lunch hosted by the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. "I don't know."

Mr. Stephenson has said he won't interfere with CNN's editorial decisions. The White House has denied it directed the Department of Justice's antitrust division, which customarily operates with autonomy.

An AT&T spokesman declined to comment.

Write to Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 03, 2019 11:32 ET (15:32 GMT)

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