A federal appeals court upheld AT&T’s $85 billion merger with Time Warner on Tuesday, handing the telecom giant a major victory in its months-long legal battle against Justice Department regulators who had alleged the deal was anti-competitive. The Justice Department said Tuesday afternoon that it does not intend to keep fighting the case. “We are grateful that the Court of Appeals considered our objections to the District Court opinion,” said agency spokesman Jeremy Edwards. Antitrust regulators who feel pressured to focus on consumer prices risk making their own jobs more difficult when confronted with zero-cost online services, according to some analysts. Yet Delrahim has said the Justice Department is adequately equipped to analyze those industries, citing other businesses, such as the broadcast industry, that have historically provided their products to the public free.

Source: Washington Post February 26, 2019 15:43 UTC