The boards of AT&T and Time Warner are meeting on Saturday afternoon to vote on an $80 billion deal that would bring the two companies together, according to sources familiar with the matter. The acquisition of Time Warner could be announced by Saturday night. Time Warner (TWX) is the parent company of CNN, TNT, HBO, the Warner Bros. studio, and a number of other TV channels and websites. AT&T (T, Tech30) is one of the country's providers of wireless phone and Internet service. It also recently acquired the DirecTV satellite TV business. Executives at the two companies have been in talks for several months. Word of the possible deal leaked out on Thursday; AT&T executives were said to be eager to finish the talks before the market opens on Monday morning. According to the Wall Street Journal, the cash-and-stock deal values Time Warner at "between $105 and $110 a share." The two companies have declined to comment while talks are underway. http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/22/media/att-time-warner/index.html
Not illegal. The synergy here is huge. AT&T already owns DirecTV. Owning several networks, including HBO, would save them a lot of money and potentially lower consumer rates. HBO hasn't done squat with UHD. Maybe after this deal they would.
Not a monopoly. They would own nowhere near 100% of production or distribution. Comcast owns cable, phone, internet, and universal's channels/programming.
According to the FTC https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/com...ws/single-firm-conduct/monopolization-defined
i don't like these giant-ass conglomerates, however I don't think they are considered a monopoly under strict interpretation of the law.
Yeah, I don't even see it as monopolistic under a loose interpretation. This isn't a company absorbing a competitor; these are parallel corporations integrating complementary services. It certainly makes them more powerful, and likely internally cost-effective once the inevitable layoffs occur to eliminate redundancies, but I don't see how it stifles competition at all.
This morning the two CEO's and Chairmen were on the news talking about how this was going to help with user experience and innovation. Buzzzzzzzzzzzzwords baby! I use that shit daily at work! Well played sirs.
You mean like Comcast basically already does with their Comcast sports networks? Well, if the feds haven't stepped in to ensure us access to Blazer basketball, I'm guessing they're not going to do the same for HBO.
