The US Department of Justice has filed an appeal of a judge's decision last month to allow a merger of AT&T and Time Warner. The AP reports that the DOJ filed the appeal Thursday in a bid to block the deal, which federal officials argue would make the television market less competitive and less innovative. Last month, US District Judge Richard Leon disagreed, ruling against the government's argument that the phone and pay-TV giant's $81 billion takeover of the entertainment conglomerate would hurt competition, limit choices and jack up prices for consumers to stream TV and movies. Per CNBC, AT&T has argued since announcing the megamerger in 2016 that it would help the company compete against Amazon and Netflix. (More AT&T stories.)