• by Wayne Friedman , June 14, 2018

Two days after a landmark court approval decision allowing AT&T to acquire Time Warner, media stocks -- both traditional and digital media companies -- continue to outperform the overall stock market.

Two key media indices -- the Dow Jones U.S. Broadcasting & Cable Index and Dow Jones Media Index -- were up 2.3% and 2.2%, respectively, in mid-day Thursday stock market trading. By contrast, broader stock market indices were basically flat.

Analysts believe the court decision signals federal approval for a broad range of new media deals and consolidation.

Traditional media stocks -- especially cable TV-focused companies -- showed gains, with Discovery adding 3.5% to $25.27; AMC Networks up 3.4% to $65.60; Charter Communications improving 3.4% to $294.87; and Viacom up 2.8% to $28.74.

Comcast Corp. and Walt Disney -- now both vying for about half of 21st Century Fox's businesses -- also gained. Comcast was up 2.9% to $33.26, while Disney grew 2% to $108.37. Fox grew 1.7% to $44.42.

Digital media stocks also were higher: Twitter was a big leader -- up 4.3% to $45.97. Netflix was up 2.5% 389.37, while Roku added 2.2% to $44.38 and Facebook was up 1.9% to $196.12.

Rising local TV station groups were led by Tribune Media, at 4.2% higher to $38.28, while Sinclair Broadcast Group was 3.1% higher to $32.90.

Sinclair's proposed $3.9 billion deal for Tribune Media may gain federal regulatory approval, in light of the AT&T-Time Warner decision, according to media analysts.

Dish Network was up 2.6% to $33.73. Nexstar Media Group was up 1.9% to 74.75 and CBS was up 1.4% to $55.01