The US Department of Justice will challenge the proposed takeover by telecommunications company AT&T of US media company Time Warner.
The outline details of the takeover were first announced just over a year ago and the deal was expected to be closed by the end of this year.
However, the issue is now set for the courts after Makan Delrahim, the DoJ’s top antitrust regulator, said: “This merger would greatly harm American consumers. It would mean higher monthly television bills and fewer of the new, emerging innovative options that consumers are beginning to enjoy.”
The DoJ filed the complaint against AT&T, DirecTV and Time Warner in Federal District Court for the District of Columbia.
AT&T chief executive Randall Stephenson said that the challenge “defies logic” and is “unprecedented.”
In July, it emerged that DirecTV would be operated as a separate unit following the takeover. AT&T was also planning to operate its wireless business separately from Time Warner’s media assets following completion of the deal, which had been valued at $85.4bn (€80bn).
Time Warner has a significant interest in sports broadcasting in the US, with rights to Major League Baseball, the NBA basketball league and the March Madness college sports basketball competition.
Time Warner also operates pay-television channels HBO and CNN, as well as production studio Warner Bros.