Mike Snider

USA TODAY

Content powerhouse Time Warner has hurdled one of its obstacles on the way to a merger with telecom giant AT&T.

Time Warner shareholders on Wednesday voted to approve AT&T's $85.4 billion acquisition. Announced in October, the mega-merger would pair entertainment creators such as HBO, CNN and Warner Bros. studio (The Lego Batman Movie, the Harry Potter films) with AT&T's wired and wireless networks and DirecTV.

Bigger hurdles remain, however. The Justice Department is reviewing the merger, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told CNBC last week and he expects the deal to close by the end of the year. AT&T and Time Warner do not compete with each other, thus the deal is a vertical merger, which should be less concerning for regulators, Stephenson has said.

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However, during the presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump criticized the deal, saying it would concentrate too much market power in a single company. The largest U.S. pay-TV provider, AT&T has more than 25 million video subscribers, mostly on DirecTV (acquired by AT&T in July 2015); next is Comcast No. 2 at 22.5 million.

At Time Warner's special shareholder meeting Wednesday, 78% of the outstanding shares of common stock voted in favor of the deal (99% of votes cast were in favor, the company said). Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes reiterated the expectations that the deal would close by year-end.



"By combining Time Warner’s leading brands and video content with AT&T’s distribution, we will accelerate our ability to innovate, develop and deliver the next generation of video services, making our content even more valuable to consumers and business partners," Bewkes said in a statement.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.