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Capitalism: AT&T and Time Warner merger for $85 bln
  • AT&T Inc (T.N) has reached an agreement in principle to buy Time Warner Inc (TWX.N) for about $85 billion, sources said on Friday, paving the way for what would be the biggest deal in the world this year, giving the telecom company control of cable TV channels HBO and CNN, film studio Warner Bros and other coveted media assets.

    Inevitable things happen. And this new monster will destroy and eat even more.

  • 12 Replies sorted by
  • Maybe they can buy Sony next

  • Trump just announced he will reverse this

  • AT&T going back to their roots of monopolization... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._AT%26T_Co.

  • They recently bought DirecTV too.

  • Official:

    AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which AT&T will acquire Time Warner in a stock-and-cash transaction valued at $107.50 per share. The agreement has been approved unanimously by the boards of directors of both companies.

    The deal combines Time Warner's vast library of content and ability to create new premium content that connects with audiences around the world, with AT&T's extensive customer relationships, world’s largest pay TV subscriber base and leading scale in TV, mobile and broadband distribution.

    http://about.att.com/story/att_to_acquire_time_warner.html

  • In true Capitalism and free markets people have nothing to fear against large mergers. Most of these big companies have only been able to get big however due to government contracts. In many ways this is like AOL Time Warner merger, in the bigger picture they are on the losing team. The problem is because we have a free internet we now have a great open market for distribution of media. The major NEWS (MSNBC, ABC etc) outlets are being taken over by smaller web news for example like Wikeleaks, Drudge, Young Turks and hundreds of other news blogs etc. We are even seeing new 'smaller' entries into the media like Netflix, Vimeo, Youtube etc and I expect that will continue. So Capitalism wins the day..........Problem is government will probably turn Capitalism into Crony Capitalism. There is already ideas floating around to control the internet and Obama has repeatedly attacked 'Blogs' etc for pushing false information (ironically when they are often he ones exposing the falsehoods of the mainstream media) and plans are afoot to regulate them.

    Again you misunderstand Capitalism as the problem when it will be Government regulation that kills off the small guys. I'm hopeful though as people won't stand for too much control of the internet now they have tasted freedom of expression online. My worry is this is all about controlling the root access to the internet....and then we have a problem.

    *Plus people forget one thing, IF there is one big player in any industry as long as they provide the cheapest highest quality service available then there is nothing wrong with them being big. The problem is there being no market access for smaller players. The second big companies starts to provide a flabby crappy service then smaller companies can quickly grow on their failings.

  • What all these companies are not aware of is the tech is being developed now in Cryptocurrencies to decentralise the internet and monetize media so there is no middle man only makers of media and consumers in a decentralised way that blocks piracy. Trust me its coming...Things won't look the same in a decade or two in media.

  • The problem is because we have a free internet we now have a great open market for distribution of media. The major NEWS (MSNBC, ABC etc) outlets are being taken over by smaller web news for example like Wikeleaks, Drudge, Young Turks and hundreds of other news blogs etc.

    Can you tell me with numbers in hand time spend by public on major TV channel and big corporation sites / social networks and compare it to small guys?

    We are even seeing new 'smaller' entries into the media like Netflix, Vimeo, Youtube etc and I expect that will continue.

    They are not "smaller entries", all of this guys are owned either by corporation or investment funds (same ones who own "larger entries") :-)

    So Capitalism wins the day..........Problem is government will probably turn Capitalism into Crony Capitalism. There is already ideas floating around to control the internet and Obama has repeatedly attacked 'Blogs' etc for pushing false information (ironically when they are often he ones exposing the falsehoods of the mainstream media) and plans are afoot to regulate them.

    Where is no such thing as crony capitalism.

    Again you misunderstand Capitalism as the problem when it will be Government regulation that kills off the small guys. I'm hopeful though as people won't stand for too much control of the internet now they have tasted freedom of expression online. My worry is this is all about controlling the root access to the internet....and then we have a problem.

    And you have huge issues understanding even basic of how society works. As in your media induced model government comes from either god or just clouds (as it certainly does not act in the interests of working people and it also somehow always turns proper capitalism into some "crony" one, hence work against interest of most capitalists).

  • May be this chart will also help with arguments for larger amount of small players:

    image

    img2716.jpg
    712 x 735 - 76K
  • This is a poor answer to the idea that there aren't many small players in media. Clearly communication through the internet has become democratised, its absurd to argue against that. In terms of making money making product yes the commercial players will keep making super hero blockbusters and we need those big players to make the big money movies we all want to consume......but the threat we were talking about is the communication of ideas not to stop the new Avengers movie I assumed.

    https://www.similarweb.com/blog/us-media-publishers-june-2016

    Matt Drudge is number 3, a right wing Libertarian leaning news site, that says it all for me in terms of how large companies are now becoming dinosaur news media. Even the big news sites just link to Twitter and other Social media these days anyway. What has been the most powerful source of News these last few weeks? Wikileaks a crowdfunded site and Project Veritas a small group on Youtube publishing independent journalists.

  • @suresure123

    All of this is good answer. And I really do not care about any "libertarian" as they are not different from other media in all key things (considering ruling class and means of production).

    I asked about bringing me numbers supporting statement not that many small players exist, nope, but that their share is rising, that people spend more time on their content.

    And what exactly is Wikileaks and by whom it is sponsored actually and get data know too few people. And I do not care, as it is just like your home cooking channel - nothing dangerous for ruling guys as whole, only for some persons.

  • AT&T has been quietly bumping up customer fees since April. The company has increased prices twice in the last three months, first by 50 cents, then by a further 73 cents in June. Customers are now paying an additional $1.23 in administrative fees, adding up to an estimated $800 million in extra revenue for the telecommunications carrier.