After two days of “people close to situation” leaking information about a possible merger between AT&T and Time Warner Inc., the two companies have confirmed the deal which is valued at around $85 billion.
The merger combines the vast Time Warner media empire — which includes cable networks (HBO, TBS, TNT, CNN, HLN, among others), movies and home video (Warner Bros., New Line), comic books (DC, Vertigo), and other ventures — with the nation’s largest satellite provider, its second-largest wireless provider, and the operator of a sprawling landline telecom network.
As we’ve mentioned before — because it can get confusing — Time Warner Inc. is not Time Warner Cable. Time Warner spun TWC off into its own company in 2009 and was recently acquired by Charter. Additionally, Time Warner Inc. is not Time Inc., the publishing mega-house (People, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, among others); that division of the company was spun off in 2014.
The confirmation of the merger jives with earlier reports that said Time Warner shareholders would get around $110/share in the deal. The final number, as announced by AT&T, is $107.50/share.
AT&T says the boards of both companies gave unanimous approval to the deal.
Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T and chief ninja of the Robocall Strike Force, calls the deal a “perfect match of two companies with complementary strengths who can bring a fresh approach to how the media and communications industry works for customers, content creators, distributors and advertisers.”
Let’s be honest. You fell asleep halfway through that quote, didn’t you?
The merger, if approved (more on that in a bit), would give AT&T control over the biggest premium channel on TV: HBO, along with its HBO Go and HBO Now streaming services (“And don’t forget about me,” holler Cinemax from its wood-paneled room in the basement.)
“Premium content always wins,” continues Stephenson, who felt the need to dump this news just as Game 6 of a potentially historic National League Championship Series was starting. “We’ll have the world’s best premium content with the networks to deliver it to every screen. A big customer pain point is paying for content once but not being able to access it on any device, anywhere. Our goal is to solve that. We intend to give customers unmatched choice, quality, value and experiences that will define the future of media and communications.”
More to come…
by Chris Morran via Consumerist
0 comments:
Post a Comment