AT&T (NYSE: T) has completed its $85 billion takeover of the entertainment firm Time Warner (NYSE: TWX).
Following a six trial, the acquisition was approved by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon.
The takeover was initially announced in October 2016 but was opposed by the Trump administration, who argued the takeover would harm consumers.
In the initial lawsuit against the deal, the Justice Department said that AT&T’s ownership of both DirecTV and Time Warner would give AT&T an unfair advantage against pay-TV providers.
AT&T said that it would need to take over Time Warner in order to compete with rival online streaming services such as Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN).
Attorney Daniel Petrocelli, who represented AT&T in the trial, said the deal is expected to be complete by 21 June.
“We’re disappointed that it took 18 months to get here, but we are relieved that it’s finally behind us,” he said.
Makan Delrahim, the Assistant Attorney General, said the Justice Department was “disappointed” by the decision to allow the takeover.
“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,” he said in a statement.
“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.”
The ruling on the AT&T and Time Warner is expected to lead to a wave of mergers in the media industry.
Data by Thomson Reuters has shown that the merger will be the fourth largest deal in the global telecom, media and entertainment business. The deal between AT&T and Time Warner will also be the 12th largest deal in any sector.