Jessica Schneider

Sprint and T-Mobile's on-again-off-again $26 billion merger appears to be on again, leaving the combined company poised to become the second-largest wireless provider in the country. Pending all parties agree on concessions, the Justice Department will approve the deal by the end of the week of June 17 or beginning the week of June 24, apparently. The concessions would likely include the sale of Boost Mobile, Sprint's discount, pay-as-you-go wireless service. However, negotiations are still ongoing and the Department of Justice is prepared to litigate if the negotiations fall through.

Economist Carl Shapiro said his analysis of AT&T's purchase of Time Warner shows that US consumers could together pay an additional $571 million in the year 2021 if the deal is approved.

"The merger will in fact harm consumers and the harm is significant in terms of the dollar amount," Shapiro testified.

US District Judge Richard Leon has rejected a Justice Department motion to limit evidence AT&T can present in its defense of its proposed purchase of Time Warner. As a result of the ruling, AT&T gets to keep one key element of its argument for the deal, after previously losing another significant fight over its planned defense. The government had asked the court to exclude evidence of a November 2017 offer from Turner (a division of Time Warner that includes CNN, TBS, and TNT) to distributors including cable and satellite companies.