AT&T Set To Take Over Time Warner for Close to $86bn

In a statement Sunday, the Trump campaign said he will take aggressive action against media conglomerates like Time Warner, owner of “the wildly anti-Trump CNN”, complaining that they “intrude into our personal lives, and in this election, are attempting to unduly influence America’s political process”. By acquiring Time-Warner, owner of CNN, HBO and Warner Bros. studios, it will have access to a vast library of content that includes the Harry Potter franchise and “Game of Thrones”.

But some analysts said the deal makes sense given the changing media landscape. If regulators block the deal, AT T must pay Time Warner US$500 million, according to people familiar with the deal.The telecom and media sectors have been consolidating.

Regulators would have to sign off on the deal.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said at a rally on Saturday after the deal was announced that he would block it if he wins the November 8 election against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

AT and T spent Dollars 48 billion buying the satellite TV provider DirecTV a year ago, making it the country’s largest pay-TV provider with 25 million customers.

AT&T lost about 3,000 video customers in the third quarter, generally a strong one as college students reconnect after being gone for the summer, with a loss of 326 U-verse TV customers outpacing a gain of 323,000 subscribers at DirecTV.

The venerable phone company has to contend with slowing growth in wireless services, given that most Americans already have smartphones. The FCC and the Justice Department feared that Comcast could use its dominant position in the cable broadband industry to force online video companies to play by its rules. Comcast plans to launch a cellphone service for its customers next year.

The deal has been called a “perfect match” by the boss of AT&T, while Time Warner chairman and chief executive Jeff Bewkes said it was a great day for Time Warner and its shareholders. It even has a 10 percent stake in Hulu.

USA lawmakers were already anxious about cable company Comcast Corp’s $30 billion acquisition of NBCUniversal, and several argued for close regulatory scrutiny of the AT&T deal.

A deal would also elevate AT&T into rarefied air – right alongside Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal.

Stephenson said there is “no competitive harm that is being rendered by putting these two companies together, so any concerns by the regulators, we believe, will be adequately addressed by conditions”. AT&T had been scheduled to report results on Tuesday but instead released them less than an hour after announcing its acquisition of Time Warner. “But as a practical matter, those kinds of strategies are expressly prohibited by the FCC and antitrust law”.

“Each of Time Warner’s three divisions is an industry leader: HBO, which consists of domestic premium pay television and streaming services (HBO Now, HBO Go), as well as global premium and basic pay television and streaming services; Warner Bros”.

“Count me as a skeptic that there is real value to be created”, Moffett said. What do you think of AT&T dropping this much cash for Time Warner?

Like other telecommunications companies, AT&T has been eager to expand into the entertainment business as its mobile phone market matures. “Traditional competitors are no longer the real threat”.