07/12/2016 World Business Report

The AT and Time Warner mega merger may be one of the biggest deals

of the year, but will it get past the competition authorities?

A cash shortage in India could force the Central Bank to cut interest

rates today, as the economy is hit by last month's plan to abolish 500

Japan's Softbank says it will invest $50 billion in US businesses.

Rico will have the details in just a moment.

We start with the media mega-deal that could end up being one

of the biggest corporate takeovers we've seen this year.

In October, the US telecoms giant AT announced plans to buy

entertainment group Time Warner for $86 billion.

The deal would be a merger of AT's distribution power

But it is far from signed and sealed.

In a few hours, the bosses of both companies will appear before a US

Senate committee dealing with competition issues.

AT is the world's biggest telecoms company, according to Forbes.

Last year it posted revenues of $146.8 billion.

Its mobile phone business has just over 133 million customers in the US

And AT has TV channels with 37.7 million subscribers

across the Americas, two-thirds in the United States.

They're hoping the tie-up will help them add to that,

by offering Time Warner's vast content, including the CNN news

channel, and HBO, which makes international hit programmes

like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones.

It also owns Hollywood's Warner Bros movie studio.

However, President-Elect Donald Trump has said he intends

Here he is speaking on the campaign trail.

As an example of the power structure I am fighting, AT is buying Time

Warner and thus CNN, a deal we will not approve of my administration

because it is too much concentration of power in the hands of too few.

CLAPPING. The plot thickens. With me is Simon Griffiths,

a partner at the law firm Irwin First of all, what Donald Trump had

to say there, he said he is not on board. He is not on board. He made

those statements in it is burger, a small town of a dozen people, where

a highly symbolic war was fought. He made a statement attacking big

business and other things on the same day that AT announced its

proposed take over of Time Warner. What was unusual is that that was a

Saturday. Normally, big transactions are not announced on Saturdays.

Before the trading day begins, normally, I guess. Monday, first

being. What do you make of that? Are you saying he will not try to block

this when he becomes president in January? Since he has made those

statements he has not repeated them and they do not appear on his

website. His contract with the American voter which he announced at

Gettysburg does appear on the website. Since then, he has

announced the appointment of advisers on competition issues and

they have spoken calmly on these issues. And AT itself is saying

that it expects the merger to go through. So we will talk about

competition authorities. Do you think they will have to give up much

to have this Galahad? Both companies are large but they do different

things. They do almost entirely different things. -- go ahead. These

are huge businesses coming together. That is what has been rejected. If

the authorities were to acquire something to be sold, it is

difficult to predict now what that would be. In terms of this going

ahead, the biggest merger in 2016, you think it will not be difficult

for the two companies to come to an agreement with the authorities? I

don't think so. It will be at least 10-12 months before the transaction

is completed. That is because of the legalities and the details. It takes

time. The legalities in the States, the authorities in Panama, China,

Brazil, Mexico. A lot to do. Thank you very much indeed for coming in

and giving us your thoughts on all of that. And of course, we will give

you and I on how all that pans out. -- an eye in on how that all pans.

A cash shortage in India could force the Central Bank to cut interest

rates today, as the economy is hit by last month's plan to abolish 500

That's roughly 80% of the bank notes in circulation.

But there are concerns that the move have could derailed India's growth,

and last month the rupee sank to a record low.

There is no doubt the shortage of cash here in India will have an

impact on the economy. And that is why the Reserve Bank of India's

decision on interest rates is being watched very closely. Economists

expect there will at least be a pay cut in the main lending rate. People

have cut back in spending in the last two months. This has hit

businesses across the board. One of the sectors feeling the ban on high

currency value notes is the auto industry. Some are already reporting

a decline in sales. But for people, the rate cut could bring good news.

Interest rate on loans is at 90%, making it expensive for people to

borrow. Low interest rates could help boost demand. There has been

widespread criticism the implementation of the ban on those

currency notes was mishandled. Javid was directed at the Governor of the

Reserve Bank of India. -- much of it. He will hold his first press

conference since the policy was introduced almost a month ago. And

he could have tough questions over the authorisation and execution of

some of these decisions. But most of all, people will be looking for an

answer on how much longer they will have to wait for this cash crunch to

get over. BBC News, Mumbai. He will update us when we get news of the

Central Bank action in India. Now for some other news.

Shares in the Japanese technology firm Softbank have risen

to their highest level in over a year in Tokyo trading,

This all comes on news that Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said

he will invest $50 billion in US businesses following a meeting

with US President-Elect, Donald Trump.

I believe he went to Trump Tower. It did the share price could.

Tell us more. $50 billion is a massive number, creating 50,000

jobs. Unexpected and the huge commitment. But look at the details.

They are lacking on where the money will go and how it will benefit

American businesses overall. The Wall Street Journal is reporting the

investment would come from the $100 billion investment fund that

Masayoshi is setting up would be Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund

and other partners. Some analysts are saying that Masayoshi could

invest heavily in start-up companies in America. Or maybe the US telecoms

company Sprint were SoftBank has a majority stake could have moods with

mobile. We were not given a timeline of the investment. If you look at

SoftBank, it is a diverse company that also has stakes in Alibaba, the

e-commerce giant in China. It has also stepped up investments in areas

like a shipping design company in America. That was Japan's largest

ever outbound deals. At this point, think is yet clear where the $50

billion will go on to 50,000 jobs will be created. We will have to

wait and see. Sally. A great headline. Pushing up the share price

without any detail whatsoever. Thank you. Other news now.

Australia's economy has shrunk, as businesses, consumers

and the government all cut back on spending.

The contraction threatens both the first recession in a quarter

of a century and the country's triple-A credit rating.

Gross domestic product fell 0.5% in the third quarter,

only the fourth negative reading since Australia's last

The US Supreme Court has sided with Samsung in the South Korean

company's long-running patent fight with Apple.

That is all from World Business Report. But the Santa Rally is

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It could take almost half a century for a government manifesto pledge

to get more disabled people into work, to be fulfilled.

A report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Disability