AT&T and the Department of Justice have agreed to extend the review of its merger past Friday, two sources close to the situation said on Thursday.

The agreement provides some glimmer of hope that the two sides can come to an agreement on terms to gain approval of the telecom’s $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner.

The DOJ can still sue AT&T to block the deal at any time. But AT&T now has agreed not to close the deal for a slightly longer period.

Some see AT&T agreeing to the unspecified extension as the telecom blinking — not wanting to battle the antitrust issue out in court.

“AT&T must think there is a basis to get to yes on something,” one Washington lawyer, not working directly on the merger, told The Post.

The DOJ feels the deal, which will give AT&T control over both vast amounts of content, including CNN and HBO, and distribution of that content into homes through 47 million pay-TV subscribers and 150 million wireless subscribers, would give the company too much power.

Separately, DOJ Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim spoke Thursday at an American Bar Association Conference in Washington and indicated the regulator, in clearing Comcast’s 2011 deal for NBCUniversal — like the AT&T deal, a vertical merger — with only promises to behave properly was a mistake.

“Several observers took issue with this regulatory approach to antitrust enforcement,” he said, referring directly to Comcast.

“I agree with that skepticism,” he said.

AT&T did not return calls, and the DOJ declined comment.