T AT&T Inc

By Shalini Ramachandran 

Even the Senate can't keep the two Time Warner companies straight.

Despite striking an $85.4 billion deal with AT&T Inc. over the weekend, Jeff Bewkes, chief executive of Time Warner Inc., unceremoniously was left out of a release from the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, which said the CEOs of both companies would testify at a hearing on the accord.

The reason? The four top Republicans and Democrats leading the Senate Judiciary Committee and its antitrust subcommittee accidentally named Time Warner Cable's former CEO Rob Marcus instead.

Time Warner Inc. owns HBO, CNN and Warner Bros. Time Warner Cable, the cable and internet provider that recently sold itself to Charter Communications Inc.

"Both Randall Stephenson, the CEO of AT&T, and Robert Marcus, the CEO of Time Warner, will testify," the release said. The hearing announcement was sent by Sens. Chuck Grassley, Patrick Leahy, Mike Lee and Amy Klobuchar.

Shortly after, the Committee sent a corrected news release naming Mr. Bewkes instead of Mr. Marcus. A representative for the Committee said the correct executive was invited to the hearing.

It's far from the first time someone has confused the two companies.

It's been a bit of a headache for AT&T and Time Warner during the last several dizzying days since they announced their megamerger. Not only have they been clobbered by opposition from politicians including Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, many consumers have tweeted and emailed reporters at The Wall Street Journal confusing the two companies. It doesn't help that Time Warner Cable had a long history as one of the most-hated companies in the U.S. known for its poor customer service.

Senior executives at Time Warner were chuckling on Thursday as they read the antitrust committee release. For days, they have suspected that at least part of the backlash stemmed from politicians confusing Time Warner with Time Warner Cable.

Earlier this week, AT&T tried to clear up the issue in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Time Warner Inc. should not be confused with Time Warner Cable, which is a distinct, independent company owned by Charter Communications," the filing explained. "In 2008, Time Warner and Time Warner Cable announced a complete legal and structural separation of the companies. That separation was completed in 2009, and the companies have been completely separate and independent entities ever since."

Clearly, the lawmakers haven't kept up-to-date with their SEC filings.

The Journal earlier this year wrote about how Mr. Bewkes would like to be thought of as the "Game of Thrones" guy. But to many, he is, unfortunately, the Cable Guy.

Mr. Marcus left Time Warner Cable after the Charter deal closed. In an email to this reporter, Mr. Marcus said he "didn't know I was invited to D.C. until I read your post."

The hearing is slated for Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. in the Judiciary Committee hearing room. The Senate better get Mr. Bewkes his invite.

--Thomas Gryta contributed to this article.

Write to Shalini Ramachandran at shalini.ramachandran@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2016 19:03 ET (23:03 GMT)

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