If approved, it would not be the last such merger. This huge deal follows the $30bn purchase in 2011 by Comcast, a cable-TV company, of NBC Universal. In doing so AT&T is betting that a few vertically integrated platforms will dominate the future of viewing. AT&T, America’s wireless and pay-TV giant, announced on October 22nd an offer for Time Warner, the owner of HBO, CNN and Warner Brothers studio, worth $109bn. This trend has spurred the largest-ever merger of a telecommunications company with a media firm.
#WATCH POWER ON TIME WARNER CABLE TV#
Broadcasters are willing to pay more to show live sporting events, and to invest more in producing TV shows, to make their networks the must-see choice for viewers. It is this vision that is now driving the direction of television and media. Both firms are spending billions of dollars making and buying TV shows and films to sell directly to viewers to watch when they like, and on devices other than the box in the corner of the room. Netflix might be one such offering Amazon another. In a decade or so TVs will once again have only a few channels, but each will run miles deep, with content that can be viewed on demand. IMAGINE a television which, as in the old days, has only a handful of channels to choose from instead of hundreds, as a typical cable set-up might offer today.