A U.S. District Court judge today overruled a ban placed by the Department of Justice against AT&T Inc.’s $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc., with the combined company set to create a powerhouse that will challenge online streaming giants Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

The deal is the largest media and telecommunications deal of its kind. AT&T, best known for its cell phone network, fiber internet service and the DirecTV satellite pay-TV offering, will gain a wealth of leading entertainment properties from Time Warner, among them CNN, the Warner Bros. movie studios and HBO, that it can offer to its 119 million subscribers.

HBO itself has offered a premium subscription online streaming service called HBO Now since 2015. It has never had huge numbers, having only surpassed 5 million customers as of February. But combined with its 142 million global cable TV subscribers and AT&T’s distribution assets, it now may offer a strong challenge to incumbents Netflix and Amazon. Indeed, AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson (pictured) has said the deal would help the company do just that.

The other potential issue post-merger is the possibility of the combined company deciding to keep its entertainment assets in-house, cutting off distribution deals to competitors. The issue was cited specifically by the DOJ when it opposed the deal.

AT&T has previously denied that would be the case. Nonetheless, Netflix has long planned for the day that it would no longer have access to content from movie studios and others, investing upwards of $8 billion on nearly 700 original shows and movies this year.

For the wider technology and entertainment industries, the court’s decision could potentially open the door for new deals. Comcast Corp. already expanded its offer to acquire U.K. pay TV operator Sky PLC to the entirety of the Twenty-First Century Fox Inc., in direct opposition to an existing offer on the table from The Walt Disney Co.

Alphabet Inc., Amazon, Apple Inc. and even Microsoft Corp. have all been rumored to have taken an interest in buying entertainment assets in the past. With massive war chests of cash on hand along with the court ruling giving the green light to megadeals, there’s every chance tech’s biggest players will want a slice of the action.

Even with a market cap of $158 billion, Netflix could become an acquisition target, with Apple in particular rumored from time to time to be a potential buyer.

Photo: Robert Scoble/Flickr