Last Wednesday, a federal court denied a request for a temporary restraining order from AT&T to quash Verizon's controversial marketing blitz, ruling that the two parties must continue to duke things out in court before a decision is reached over pulling the Verizon ads.

Now, AT&T and its mobile phone partner Apple have jumped off the higher road, adopting the newer attitude that, "If you can't lick 'em, join 'em."

Watching the two wireless giants try to clobber each other over the TV airwaves should make for entertaining TV viewing straight through the holiday season, and maybe beyond that. well into 2010.

Eventually, the public will probably lose interest in this breed of TV drama, just as people ultimately get tired of many types of television fare.

If the two contenders involved were not AT&T and Verizon, there might even be a danger that folks would turn off the warring ad messages entirely.