AT&T and the US Department of Justice (DoJ) will again square off over the operator’s recent merger with media company Time Warner on 6 December, continuing the government’s attempt to block the deal

Final briefs in the case must be filed with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia today (18 October) ahead of the start of oral arguments in December.

Judge Richard Leon approved the deal in June, but the DoJ argued in its appeal the ruling failed to apply economic principles and common sense. It reiterated its claim AT&T would have “both the incentive and the ability to raise its rivals’ costs and stifle growth of innovation” in the wake of the deal.

AT&T rejected those arguments, stating the merger would not harm competition and called Leon’s decision “thorough, fact-cased and well-reasoned”.

The operator closed its deal with Time Warner and began integrating assets two days after Leon’s ruling, but agreed to operate Time Warner’s Turner cable television networks separately until February 2019, or from the conclusion of the appeal.