DOJ: Judge who allowed merger was wrong about competition

The Trump Justice Department says it proved that AT&T's mega-merger with Time Warner will hurt competition, and the judge who allowed the takeover was clearly wrong to conclude consumers wouldn't be harmed.

The government's argument came in its brief filed Monday with a federal appeals court. The Justice Department is challenging the decision by a lower court judge that opened the way for one of the biggest media deals ever: phone and pay-TV titan AT&T's $81 billion takeover of the Time Warner entertainment conglomerate.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon misunderstood the complexities of the booming pay-TV market and the nature of AT&T's competitors, the antitrust regulators asserted in their filing.

But AT&T General Counsel David McAtee says in a statement that "Appeals aren't 'do-overs'."