Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT & T (Photo: Win McNamee)

Could the U.S. government upset AT & T's plans to give Internet viewers streaming bundles that leveraged its acquisition of Time Warner? Not a chance, the giant telecom's CEO insisted Friday.

The morning after the Justice Department said it would appeal an antitrust decision that AT & T's acquisition last month of Warner's Time for $ 85 billion, AT & T's CEO Randall Stephenson insisted the legal maneuver would not do any AT & T has pitched to consumers.

"We're off and running," Stephenson told CNBC from Sun Valley, Idaho, where he is attending the annual Allen & Co. conference with other media and media moguls, many of whom will legal proceedings play out.

After the merger was completed, AT & T launched WatchTV, a broadband-delivered video streaming service with 30-plus channels, made available to customers under two new AT & T unlimited plans for $ 15 per month for other consumers. WatchTV has been in the works for awhile, but AT & T has been waiting for the video of the TV war in the early going.

AT & T had argued the merger would allow it to offer more streaming alternatives to customers, raising the risk that an unspooled Time Warner deal could derail WatchTV. Consumer groups complained the bigger company.

Stephenson Says the Government's Appeal "changes nothing about how we operate, … we're going to change our business."

Investors appear less blood , while consumer groups cheered the appeal.

AT & T 's shares closed down 1.7% Friday. And following the DOJ appeal, analyst firm Raymond James & Associates downgraded AT & T's stock from "outperform" to "market perform."

Analyst Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson believes the government's chances of prevailing on appeal are actually relatively low. not zero. "

The Justice Department Offered No More Than Beyond Their Filing Thursday. Stephenson himself acknowledged that a period of six months.

John Bergmayer, senior counsel at the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, says customers should be heartened by the DOJ's move, because the merger is "a bad deal for consumers and competition."

AT & T recently hiked on DirecTV Now video service by $ 5 a month across its various third parties and also its monthly administrative fee.

The Justice Department's appeal is the latest twist in a two-year-old saga to combine a giant telecom with an entertainment powerhouse. Announced in October 2016, the US government in the air in November 2017, saying one company having so much power over both Americans and their satellite TV service – and what they watch – would hurt consumers.

The merger was expected to usher in a wave of media and telecom mergers designed to counter the growing heft and influence of Netflix, Amazon and Apple.

Indeed, it was just after Judge Richard Leon approved the last year after a six-week trial ended in April that Comcast upped its bid for the Fox assets and reignited its ongoing fight against Disney.

Judge Leon had not been persuaded that the government had adequately made the case that the combination of a distributor with a network of TV studios and channels would hurt competition, and he strongly discouraged the DOJ from seeking a stay, declaring that the likelihood of a successful appeal on the merits was small.

"The Government has had this merger on hold," the Judge wrote in his July 12 ruling, "the video programming and distribution industry has continued to evolve at a breakneck pace."

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During the trial held in the US District Court in Washington, DC, the DOJ argued AT & T would have the leverage to rival pay-TV providers more for the right to distribute Time Warner's networks. These would be passed on to consumers, the government said.

AT & T would be more likely to compete with a growing roster of online video competitors including Facebook, Google, Netflix and Apple.

Warner has been incorporated into a new entity within AT & T called WarnerMedia, which includes HBO, the Warner Bros. studios, and Turner networks such as CNN and TBS.

Some Wall Street analysts had already anticipated the DOJ's move and dismissed it because of the strength of the judge's ruling, says Daniel Ives, chief strategy officer & head of technology research for GBH Insights. "The DOJ appeal will add more noise to the story", he said.

Looming over the DOJ's appeal is the Trump factor . President Donald Trump, as a candidate, said, "AT & T is buying Time Warner, and CNN, a deal we will not approve in my administration."

CNN has long been a target for Trump, calling the Time Warner-owned news network "fake news." His son-in-law Jared Kushner brought up concerns about CNN's coverage being unfair to the administration in a February 2017 meeting with Time Warner executives.

For his part, Stephenson declares that "the merger is closed." We Own Time Warner. "

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Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider . Follow USA TODAY columnist tech Edward C. Baig @edbaig

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