Time Warner and AT&T Merger Approved

It looks like the media landscape is about to undergo a major change, as the AT&T and Time Warner merger has officially been approved.

The deal has been in the development for almost two years, but endured quite a few road blocks in recent months when the Justice Department began to investigate the merger for antitrust laws. Earlier today, federal judge Richard Leon officially approved the merger, which is expected to be worth $85 billion.

“This decision from Judge Leon will have broad ramifications for the tech, telecommunications and media sector for decades to come.” Daniel Ives, chief strategy officer at GBH Insights, told Business Insider. “This deal will accelerate content and streaming initiatives between Time Warner properties and AT&T and be a major shot across the bow to other cable and wireless players with all these assets under one hood.”

For those in the nerd world, AT&T’s purchase of Time Warner could have several different ramifications. For one thing, Time Warner’s assets will include both Warner Bros. and DC Comics, something that could have ramifications on both companies’ future outputs. With Aquaman, Shazam!, and Wonder Woman 2 all in various stages of production, and a slew of more DC-inspired films in the cards, there’s no telling what kind of impact this merger could have. According to a report back in February, the potential failure of the deal could have led to Warner Bros. potentially selling off its DC Comics-related assets, something that seemingly seems to not be in the cards now.

The deal will also include other blockbuster franchises in Warner Bros.’ library, such as The Wizarding World, Legendary’s “Monsterverse” of films, The Lego Movie, and the highly-anticipated sequel to It. It also will affect networks such as HBO, TNT, and CNN.

And to an extent, this deal going through could have larger ramifications within the media landscape, with regards to the Disney/20th Century Fox deal. Last month, it was revealed that Comcast was interested in purchasing 20th Century Fox’s assets, and would be willing to make an all-cash bid if the AT&T/Time Warner deal did go through.

What do you think about the AT&T and Time Warner deal going through? Let us know what you think in the comments below.