21/11/2017 Business Briefing

Duncan Kennedy has more.

This is Business Briefing.

The US government has filed

a lawsuit to try to stop

the multi-billion dollar takeover

by the American telecoms giant AT&T

of the media group, Time Warner.

Expectations are high

for Easyjet's full year results.

Has the low cost carrier benefited

from its competitors misfortunes

in what has been a tumultuous

year for the industry.

And on the markets -

Hang Seng up nearly 1.25% -

following big push across Asia

and that in response to the US.

Nikkei up as well -

carmakers Toyota and Subaru.

Dow Jones up a third of a percent.

The US Department of Justice

will sue to block a proposed 85

billion dollar takeover

of Time Warner by AT&T.

Time Warner is the parent company

of the cable news network CNN,

which has been the target

of continual criticism

by President Donald Trump.

Regulatory concerns around the deal

have ramped up in recent months

and now the US justice department

is filing a lawsuit to block

the merger, saying it violates rules

governing fair competition.

Samira Hussain reports

from New York.

This is a deal that has always made

sense for the two companies. AT&T is

one of America's leaving more --

telecom operators. Owning the news

and entertainment properties of Time

Warner would give it a big

competitive advantage. Based on

President, like Com cast's takeover

of NBC which went through in 2010,

this AT&T merge and looked like it

would be accepted by regulators. As

soon as it was announced in 2016,

then presidential candidate Donald

Trump made it clear that he did not

like it. Mr Trump has also been

quite clear about his deep dislike

so the news coverage of CNN, which

is owned by Time Warner. Responding

to the news that Mr Trump's Justice

Department is going to try to block

the deal, AT&T's boss did not hold

back from the politics of the

situation.

I do want to address the

elephant in the room here. There has

been a load of reporting and

speculation whether this is all

about CNN. And, frankly, I do not

know. But nobody should be surprised

if the question keeps coming up.

Because we have witnessed such an

abrupt change in the application of

an anti-trust law here that the

bottomline is that we cannot and

will not be party to any agreement

that would even be of the perception

of compromising the first Amendment

protection's of the press. So any

agreement that results enough for

orbiting -- forfeiting control of

CNN, be that directly or indirectly,

is a nonstarter.

The DOJ denies any

suggestion that the deal is being

blocked because of the President's

animosity towards CNN. They say the

AT&T and Time Warner would simply

have too much media power. The

company is clearly determined to

challenge that view.

EasyJet is reporting full

year earnings later.

Expectations are that the airline

will report an uptick in numbers

The company is looking to expand -

having put in offers to buy parts

of the now defunct AirBerlin

and Alitalia airlines.

It's been aided by the collapse

of rival Monarch earlier

in the year, especially

on some key routes

And of course its main rival Ryanair

is dealing with the fallout

of a disastrous scheduling

malfunction that led

to the cancellation

of around 20,000 flights -

and shaved millions

from its bottom line.

This will be the last time

Chief Executive Carolyn McCall

reports earnings for the airline.

She finishes the job on December

first before taking up a new role

as CEO of ITV television

here in London.

With me is Oliver Clark,

senior reporter at FlightGlobal.

Thank you very much for joining us.

What do you think?

I think they will

post a nice healthy profit. They

expect something within the region

of around $400 million.

And what

would you put most of that profit

down to? Is it benefiting from the

misfortunes of others? Is it their

own work?

Where is the breakdown?

There is a negative impact on in

currency fluctuation. They expect a

higher benefit from lower fuel cost.

Fuel cost is one thing. Honestly,

Monarch is gone and they had been on

some good routes. We have seen the

Ryanair debacle. They have done well

on their own profits getting through

that, but none the less aid yoghurt

mess for Ryanair and that plays

neatly doesn't it?

It really helps

easy to. They said in their

expectations for today's profit that

they are struggling with an impact

of yield due to overcapacity in the

market. Losing one of their

competitors in the UK market and

sets them. The problem is the

Ryanair could easily lead to

passengers choosing to fly to

easyJet.

But it is not as simple as

saying Ryanair is on a downward

spiral at all. That is not the case.

Nonetheless, what is it at the thing

to do is be on an upward trend. Is

hoping to grow and die out now,

whether that be Alitalia or air

Berlin.

That sends out a clear

message. The viewing the industry is

that consolidation will continue in

Europe in the market. EasyJet is

well-placed to take part in that

process because they are a big

player. They have already put in a

bid for Alitalia and that will give

them more Italian coverage. Air

Berlin, they are taking part of its

operation. They are in a good

position.

And consolidation is a

lovely word. It sounds warm and

friendly but it does lead to far

fewer airlines out there. How far

will they go, do you think?

People

such as Ryanair's chief executive,

they talk about that you will

probably see three or four big

groups in Europe. Love times are,

Ryanair, easyJet and maybe a couple

of others to beat you could easily

expect more airlines to disappear

over the coming months and years.

I

think those figures will be out

seven o'clock out I'm so not much

longer to wait.

Officials from China and Pakistan

are meeting today to discuss

closer economic ties.

Let's go to our Asia business

hub where Rico Hizon

Is following this story.

Big

business and trade. Two countries

who have been analysed since 1951.

Pakistan was one of the first

nations to recognise China and it

goes to show the close relationship

between the two countries. Trade

amounts to almost $13 billion a year

and most of it is Chinese exports to

Pakistan. Pakistan has always --

also been roped into the one. One

Road initiative which sees the

mainland investing up to $55 billion

over the next five years. At Hull

China's aid towards a hydroelectric

dam has been rejected. Is the

relationship facing challenges? We

spoke earlier with an honest it is

said the issue is a little more Com

placated.

The situation was a lot

more nuanced than that. Number one,

if you look at the nature of the

project, the solar projects are

always controversial. There are

issues with the impact on local

population and local environments.

These have been reason enough to

derail these project. More

importantly, this project is

specifically occurring on a piece of

disputed territory between Pakistan

and India.

And despite some issues,

the China Pakistan economic corridor

will be meeting today to finalise

long-term plans for economic

integration between the two

countries.

Thank you very much Rico.

Good to see you.

Now let's brief you on some

other business stories.

The last big procedural hurdle

to the completion of Keystone XL

pipeline was cleared on Monday -

when five members of

the Nebraska Public Service

Commission voted three to two

to approve an amended

route through the state.

But opponents have promised to tie

the project up in court for years

and TransCanada is still studying

its commercial viability.

Colorado regulators on Monday

fined Uber $8.9 million,

saying the ride-services company

allowed 57 people to drive

for it although they lacked valid

driver's licenses or had committed

other offences that would

have disqualified them.

Uber said it recently discovered

an error in its background check

process and was working

to correct the issue.

And now - what's trending

in the business news this morning.

The Financial Times has the story

of how Fed Chair Janet Yellen

will quit not only her post

but also the Fed board

after Powell is sworn in.

Bloomberg: Trump administration ends

protected immigrant status

for about 60,000

Haitians living in U.S.

After 2010 quake and,

Broadway is Booming says

the Wall Street Journal.

Halfway through the 2017-18 season,

ticket sales for shows are up by 18%

over the previous season.

And don't forget -

let's us know what you

are spotting online -

use the hashtag #BBCtheBriefing.

That's it for Business

Briefing this hour.

But before we go -

here are the markets.

Significant rises across Asia. The

Dow Jones is where it started from.

A rosy outlook at the moment.