The Justice Department with the Trump administration put the kibosh on the AT&T Time Warner deal but a Judge ruled today that a deal could go through.

AT&T was handed a big victory today in court when Federal Judge Richard Leon ruled in favor of the AT&T Time Warner merger.  The victory comes after the proposed merger announcement and subsequent squashing of the merger by President Trump, himself.  The DOJ argued that the deal was anti-competitive.  However, the judge ruled that the DOJ did not present enough evidence to suggest any constraint of competition.

The deal, estimated to be worth roughly $85 billion, gives AT&T a competitive advantage in the marketplace.  AT&T would gain properties from Warner that include HBO, CNN, and Warner Bros.  Meanwhile, AT&T has made several promises about the content including launching a “skinny” package of cord-cutting channels for around $15.  It also makes AT&T a formidable competitor to companies like Comcast who owns NBC, and Disney who has announced plans to acquire 21st Century Fox (the later is in a competition with Comcast to also acquire Fox).

Speculation about Trump’s disapproval of the merger is speculated to revolve around the acquisition of CNN; an oft hated media outlet by Trump.  The President has often considered CNN to be fake news.  Regardless of feelings about CNN, the deal does give AT&T a wide variety of content from other owned Warner properties as well.

For those unaware, AT&T owns IPTV service U-Verse, and satellite service, DirecTV.  The company has recently branched out into over-the-top with DirecTV Now, an online only service.  The company offers HBO Go for only $5 a month on the DirecTV Now service.  The company also offers many distribution methods with fiber Internet and, soon, 5G wireless services.  Time Warner did offer traditional cable TV service but sold the service back in 2016 to Charter.

Of course, the DOJ is expected to appeal the decision, although Judge Richard Leon did say that the DOJ’s case was weak on appeal.  Only time will tell if the DOJ does appeal, but it would seem that a merger is now more likely than ever.  Stay tuned for updates as they occur.