*By Mike Teich*
If AT&T's $85 billion bid for Time Warner was allowed to proceed, it could lead to a new wave of media and telecom mergers, and smooth the way for deals like the Sprint-T-Mobile merger announced on Sunday, said Dan Primack, the business editor at Axios.
A federal judge heard arguments Monday over the potential impact of the AT&T-Time Warner deal on consumers. The Department of Justice sued to block the deal for fear it would give AT&T too much power. The wireless company argued there is plenty of competition from content companies such as Disney and new media powerhouses like Google and Netflix that would counterbalance its influence if it were to take over a content shop like Time Warner.
The lead lawyer for AT&T and Time Warner told Judge Richard J. Leon of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that blocking the merger would [dampen competition](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/30/technology/att-time-warner-trial.html), according to The New York Times. The judge is expected to rule in June.
Primack said in an interview Tuesday with Cheddar that AT&T doesn't need the deal to go through in order to survive, but it would enable the telecom company to challenge new media rivals.
If the acquisition was allowed, Primack said "we will see a run on mergers" in media and telecom. If the deal was quashed, he said there will be a "big freeze."
That could mean a halt ー for the third time ー to the merger of the third and fourth largest wireless carriers, T-Mobile and Sprint. Their $26 billion dollar deal must be approved by federal regulators.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/future-of-telecom-mergers-hinges-on-at-and-t-time-warner-case).
Peacock shared the trailer for the second season of the celebrity competition show, 'The Traitors.'
Darden, the parent company of chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, beat Wall Street estimates in its latest earnings report.
A former Facebook executive pled guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the company while she was employed there.
Rising safety concerns over water bead products marketed to kids have prompted major retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart to pull some toys off their shelves.
The Congressional Budget Office said Friday it expects inflation to nearly hit the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate in 2024, as overall growth is expected to slow and unemployment is expected to rise into 2025, according to updated economic projections for the next two years.
Intel is out with a new product to challenge other big players in the space like Nvidia and AMD.
Stocks fell after the opening bell Friday but will end on another positive week.
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Americans picked up their spending from October to November as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring that shoppers still have power to keep buying.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate dropped below 7% to its lowest level since early August, another boost for prospective homebuyers who have largely been held back by sharply higher borrowing costs and heightened competition for relatively few homes for sale.
