Longtime telecom boss to be replaced by deputy John Stankey; Stephenson to remain chairman until January

AT&T also reported a surprise increase in wireless customers, and said it would pay off 75% of the debt incurred in its Time Warner deal by the end of the year.

The deal values Hulu at $15 billion.

• The case holds wide-ranging impact on the type of vertical integrations that have become common among tech and telecom companies, and has taken on a political bent with regard to the Trump administration.

Streaming services are a hard business, said one analyst. “Unlike pay TV, with live streaming services you can sign up and move from one package to another."

He added, “Our goal is to reshape the way media and entertainment work for consumers, and you will see us continue to do exactly that.”

The ruling is a major setback for the Justice Department and its antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, whose decision to sue to block the deal broke with convention.

An AT&T spokesman said the company was “aware of the investigation,” had provided information to the government for it and was working “to move this issue forward.”

AT&T will layoff and fire more than a thousand workers starting early next year, according to local reports.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was finally passed on Wednesday. The bill is unpopular with Democrats and the American people, but AP economic analyst Josh Boak says we might see edits in the coming years. (Dec. 20) AP

The Justice Department's lawsuit to block AT&T's purchase of Time Warner has a trial date: March 19, 2018.

AT&T has already signaled it will go to court if the deal is blocked, potentially setting up one of the biggest legal battles over a corporate merger in decades

Now it seems possible that the Justice Department and AT&T will end up battling each other in court.

CNN declined to comment on the potential sale.

- The Justice Department is demanding that AT&T sell Turner Broadcasting, which includes CNN, or sell DirecTV, for approval of the $85 billion merger with Time Warner.
- AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said in a statement he has never offered to sell CNN, nor does he have any intention of doing so.
- President Trump has repeatedly criticized CNN as fake news on his social media Twitter account in the past year.

At a contentious meeting on Monday, the Department of Justice's antitrust chief gave AT&T a choice: If you want us to approve your purchase of Time Warner, either sell off CNN's parent unit or DirecTV. Otherwise, we'll see you in court.

Imagine what Legere would’ve said about that.

I’m also including the cost of a 4-line plan with 3GB of data each for all of you family types, as well as the number of cities in which each carrier offers 4G LTE data speeds.

The figure for AT&T was 80.37%, while Sprint — now recovering from years of distraction — offered 69.85% LTE coverage.

US telecoms giant Verizon Communications is to buy Yahoo's search and advertising operations for $5bn (£3.8bn), according to media reports.