New York, Nov 21 (EFE) .- The AT & T group wants to defend before the courts "as soon as possible" its merger with Time Warner, after the US Department of Justice has presented a lawsuit against the operation, which the telecommunications group defends will lower television prices.

"We want to go to court as soon as possible," said the lawyer today. Dan Petrocelli, leader of the legal team of AT & T that will be in charge of defending a merger that is in the crosshairs of the Administration of Donald Trump.

The Department of Justice announced on Monday that it had filed a lawsuit to block the purchase of the Time Warner group by AT & T, announced on October 22, 2016, in an operation valued at 85,400 Millions of dollars.

According to the authorities, this merger can increase the prices of the services they provide and potentially block content creators so that distribute them without paying additional costs.

From the moment the merger was announced, the authorities indicated that they would examine the operation "carefully".

Today, the US President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters before traveling to Florida, said that he personally always thought that this operation "is not good for the country. "

In an interview with the financial channel CNBC, Petrocelli insisted today that" there is no credible evidence "on the warnings of the authorities.

" This merger will result in which prices of cable or television bills fall, "added the lawyer, who came to defend Trump in several lawsuits about the seminars offered by a university that It bears his name.

AT & T insists that it is a "vertical merger" that unites two companies that do not compete directly in their business areas.

Petrocelli reminded that the The last time that the US authorities appealed to the courts for a vertical merger was during the administration of Richard Nixon (1969-1974).

As soon as the The Justice Department's announcement, AT & T's top executive, Randall Stephenson, was presented at a press conference, along with Petrocelli, to defend his position.

"Let's get involved in this to win, "said Stephenson." It defies logic and is unprecedented, "added the president and chief executive of the largest telecommunications group in the United States. United.

AT & T reiterates that there have been so many changes in the sector that it is difficult for an offer to concentrate on a few hands, and has set as an example the emergence of firms such as Netflix, Amazon or YouTube, a subsidiary of Google.

"What we are trying to do is build a platform that allows us to compete with them," Stephenson said earlier this month.

announced the demand, analysts seem to be giving the reason to the company. Industry expert Frank Louthan.

Demand is not having a special impact on the stock market. low taking into account that so far this year have the shares of the firm have lost 19%.

And in the case of Time Warner, their shares ended with an advance of 2.09%, accumulated decrease during this year of 7.26%.

Without giving the reason directly to the Government, some analysts note the risks that, effectively, when the merger is completed The rights of consumers may be damaged.

And this is because, as Craig Moffett maintains, 70% of Time Warner's content is consumed on platforms other than AT & T.

"As long as AT & T becomes a supplier of its direct competitors, it has the incentive to raise prices," Moffett said.

In addition, the problems that are Finding this merger can be a stumbling block for other similar operations, including initial 21st Century Fox group scores to sell part of their assets.

"Certainly, this cools any agreement that may exist in the media sector," says James Paulsen of Leuthold Group.