Don’t get me going about WALT DISNEY buying a large chunk of Rupert Murdoch‘s FOX empire…
There’s another potential merger being debated in Washington that could impact all of us—and not necessarily in a good way.
It’s the Justice Department’s current hearings of powerful AT&T‘s high-stakes plan to acquire everything TIME-WARNER.
And there’s plenty to be acquired, including WARNER BROS., CNN, TURNER BROADCASTING, TBS, HBO, TCM and CARTOON NETWORK.
(Note that TIME-WARNER CABLE is not part of the proposed deal as it was sold to CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS some time ago.)
To suggest that the DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE is looking unfavorably on the proposed $85 billion deal would be a gross understatement.
Why?
AT&T is America’s biggest telecom provider—a communications giant.
And AT&T together with TIME WARNER could very much impact how you and I get our television and movie programming in the years to come.
And probably even more important to consumers: THE COST.
COMCAST has already gotten the jump on things by adding NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, BRAVO, E!, UNIVERSAL PICTURES, SYFY, USA NETWORKS and more to its universe.
And DISNEY? They way they’re growing…..well let’s just say that the Mouse House could one day control all of us. (kidding.)
To suggest that this current antitrust battle brought by the Justice Department against AT&T is high stakes is putting it mildly.
Communication and media companies will continue their attempts at major mergers because in today’s climate, content and distribution is everything.
Here’s ‘streaming at you, kid………
Jack…nothing stops rolling downhill in d.c. Once ATT fills the pols pockets with
campaign cash it’s all over.
And really who cares.
The real worry is net neutrality. Now that trump ad his goons allowed the change
of law….companies like ATT will control everything.
But I’m sure glazo is very concerned that the cartoon network is part of the deal.
His animated cartoons of his comedy club will now be affected.
But the next target is the internet….thats where the trillions of dollars are
focused and where americans will get screwed royally.
What is really worrisome, is the incessant, never ending, Progressive proselytization programming, shoved down your throat, by these media giants, who will become just one, Orwellian, Media Monolith. The new company (Time Warner is now “Spectrum”, they just love changing their names if not their brand.) should be called “Sky Net”. The bandwagoning, bumper sticker repetitions of the same program with the same narrative suffuses HBO, Showtime, Netflix, Hulu et al. The names are changed, the locals are rearranged, but, the message, the shriek of the dog whistle and the insistence that we all genuflect in honor of Liberal Ideology is pervasive.
Go now and look at what is available on HBO and Showtime in “Series” and “Documentaries”.
Hollywood apparatchiks would love nothing more than to see the Constitution replaced with Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals”.
Me, I think that if Timothy Leary were still alive, he would “Turn Off, Tune Out and Drop Out”.
If you read this, then, you are part of the resistance, at least for a while.
For the record Time Warner Cable was sold to Charter Communications which brands their cable service as ‘Spectrum’
I wouldn’t worry about it. After the next bear market hits, the bankers will convince AT&T that splitting into 3 or 4 different companies will help its stock price. AT&T will agree and the bankers will laugh all the way to the bank.
All you’re seeing now is the merger mania that happens at the peak of most bull markets.
Anyone remember the AOL-Time Warner merger in 2000 (and the subsequent spin off of AOL a few years later)?
Remember when monopolies were illegal? Pepperidge Farms remembers!
In prior presidential administrations, a merger like this would have been approved, perhaps with certain conditions or monitoring requirements for a set period. It was thus surprising to see it challenged. Barron’s has an article about it in this week’s edition and cites an analyst as saying AT&T has a 65% chance of winning at trial, which sounds about right. It will be interesting to see if antitrust concerns are raised with the Disney-Fox deal and with the rumored re-combination of CBS and Viacom. Amazon, Netflix, and Google have caused huge changes in the media landscape, and traditional media companies believe bulking up is the only way to be competitive.