Judge Approves AT&T's $85 Billion Acquisition of Time Warner In a historic deal that will reshape the media industry, AT&T has won the right to takeover Time Warner. On Tuesday, US District Judge Richard Leon ruled that the government failed to prove the deal violated antitrust law, after the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit to block the merger. AT&T argued that they needed to merge with Time Warner in order to compete against Netflix, Amazon and the changing media landscape. Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim said he is disappointed in the court's decision and believes the merger will harm consumers. We continue to believe that the pay-TV market will be less competitive and less innovative as a result of the proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner. We will closely review the court's opinion and consider next steps in light of our commitment to preserving competition for the benefit of American consumers.