U.S. judge hearing AT&T trial sets opening arguments for Wednesday

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Opening arguments in a trial to decide if AT&T's plan to buy Time Warner is legal under U.S. antitrust law will begin on Wednesday following two days to hear pre-trial motions, Judge Richard Leon said in a pre-trial hearing on Thursday.

Leon also said that the trial could last six to eight weeks.

The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit in November to stop AT&T, which owns DirecTV and other products with 25 million subscribers, from buying movie and TV show maker Time Warner, which owns HBO and CNN, among many other channels.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Writing by Diane Bartz; Editing by Tom Brown)