Companies pursuing vertical deals, like CVS and its $69 billion acquisition of Aetna, will point to the court decision to support their case with regulators. The same goes for another health care deal, Cigna’s $52 billion offer for the drug benefits manager Express Scripts.

More upheaval in the media industry is also likely. Comcast has signaled that if the deal goes through, it will make a bid for the 21st Century Fox parts that the Walt Disney Company is in the process of acquiring for $52.4 billion in stock. Comcast, which was rebuffed by the Fox board in the fall, largely because of regulatory concerns, said on May 23 that it was preparing a “superior all-cash offer” for the Fox assets.

Comcast needs to move quickly because Fox shareholders are scheduled to vote on the Disney deal on July 10. Fox could be forced to delay the vote Comcast bids for it.

“We expect a Comcast bid for Fox under almost any circumstance, unless there is problematic language in the AT&T-Time Warner court decision that makes the prospect of vertical media mergers untenable going forward,” Mr. Greenfield of BTIG Research wrote on Wednesday.

The outcome of the AT&T case could also prompt a range of smaller entertainment companies to join forces as a competitive maneuver. Speculation surrounds Lionsgate, which owns Starz; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which controls the rights to the James Bond franchise; Sony Pictures Entertainment, which has rebounded at the box office; and Discovery Communications, the TV powerhouse.

Media and telecom companies will also look for any signs that the judge agrees with AT&T and Time Warner’s assertion that Silicon Valley is a competitive threat and should also be defined as part of the media ecosystem — adding new competitors for regulators to consider.

If so, companies like Verizon and Dish could view the court decision as a sign that they could buy media companies. T-Mobile and Sprint could also point to the court decision to support their pending wireless merger, which they say would bring better mobile service as companies like Comcast enter the wireless market.