AT&T Is in Advanced Talks to Acquire Time Warner - Polidicks

[t]http://i.imgur.com/YuAb3x8.jpg[/t] [quote] AT&T Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire Time Warner Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, a deal that would create a new hallmark in the rapidly converging realms of media, communications and the internet. A deal, which could happen as early as this weekend, would unite AT&T’s portfolio of wireless, broadband and satellite TV services with Time Warner’s entertainment empire, which includes cable networks such as TNT, TBS, CNN, the coveted premium channel HBO, and the Warner Bros. film and TV studio. The talks toward what likely would be a cash-and-stock deal have come together quickly, are fluid and still could fall through, according to people familiar with the matter. An agreement also could be delayed, they said. Time Warner shares rose 6.7% to $90.94 in early-afternoon trading after The Wall Street Journal reported the advanced talks, while AT&T fell 2.6% to $37.65. A merger of the companies would be the most ambitious marriage of content and distribution in the media and telecom industries since Comcast Corp. ’s 2011 purchase of NBCUniversal and would create a behemoth to rival that cable giant. A transaction would be far and away the biggest media deal of recent years. Time Warner has a market capitalization of $71 billion, while AT&T’s was $231.7 billion. A deal likely would get intense regulatory scrutiny. Regulators have showed misgivings about the Comcast-NBCU deal—in particular, whether obligations placed on Comcast were enforceable—so it’s unclear if they will be willing to entertain another such merger.[/quote] [url=http://www.wsj.com/articles/at-t-is-in-advanced-talks-to-acquire-time-warner-1477061850]WSJ[/url]

So is the FTC going to block this or just let it go through

This should be blocked. We are definitely getting too few companies control too much of the media.

fuck all those companies honestly

They're already each far too big, they should be broken up if anything.

I'm surprised AT&T is big enough. I thought they were just a phone company. What do they own?

[QUOTE=Popularvote;51240012]I'm surprised AT&T is big enough. I thought they were just a phone company. What do they own?[/QUOTE] They're an ISP and own DirectTV too.

Wait a second. Didn't Spectrum already swallow up Time Warner? I remember because of the announcement that the MAXX rollout was indefinitely canceled in lieu of Spectrum's "$50 for 50/5 and $100 for 100/10" bullshit. (MAXX would have been around 300/50 and 500/50 for no change in price)

[QUOTE=Gray Altoid;51240038]Wait a second. Didn't Spectrum already swallow up Time Warner? I remember because of the announcement that the MAXX rollout was indefinitely canceled in lieu of Spectrum's "$50 for 50/5 and $100 for 100/10" bullshit. (MAXX would have been around 300/50 and 500/50 for no change in price)[/QUOTE] yeah that bothered me too, it wasn't spectrum it was Charter. One of the reasons that deal went through was the FCC would monitor all it's activites for anti-consumer behavior aka no data caps. And now AT&T wants to swallow both.

We've already ran away from AT&T because of the crap internet speeds, and now this?? AT&T :toadleave:

[QUOTE=Popularvote;51240012]I'm surprised AT&T is big enough. I thought they were just a phone company. What do they own?[/QUOTE] AT&T is THE phone company, going back over a hundred years. It's been broken up before, but the empire remains. They're the landline provider in large swaths of the US, which can also include DSL or cable services. They own poles within towns and cities, too. DirecTV is a nore recent acquisition, but the fact remains - AT&T has a lot of weight to throw around. [editline]21st October 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Gray Altoid;51240038]Wait a second. Didn't Spectrum already swallow up Time Warner? I remember because of the announcement that the MAXX rollout was indefinitely canceled in lieu of Spectrum's "$50 for 50/5 and $100 for 100/10" bullshit. (MAXX would have been around 300/50 and 500/50 for no change in price)[/QUOTE] That's Time Warner Cable, two different companies (they have been since the late 80s). Also, MAXX was not canceled, it was put on hold.

Commercials are already popping up everywhere on TV for Time Warner customers that they're getting ready to switch everyone to Spectrum soon, and now AT&T already wants to buy them out?? Companies are getting incredibly voracious lately.

The current US election shows what happens when you have a handful companies controlling a nations media. lets not make it any worse please

So we had Bayer and Monsanto, Dow and DuPont, and US and American Airways, and now this? Obama, what are you doing?

So when are we gonna reanimate Teddy Roosevelt and start trust-busting again?

[QUOTE=Cock Boner;51240176]AT&T is THE phone company, going back over a hundred years. It's been broken up before, but the empire remains. They're the landline provider in large swaths of the US, which can also include DSL or cable services. They own poles within towns and cities, too. DirecTV is a nore recent acquisition, but the fact remains - AT&T has a lot of weight to throw around. [editline]21st October 2016[/editline] That's Time Warner Cable, two different companies (they have been since the late 80s). Also, MAXX was not canceled, it was put on hold.[/QUOTE] [url]https://consumerist.com/2016/08/11/sorry-twc-customers-charter-acquisition-means-no-more-maxx-upgrades-for-you/[/url] [quote]Charter has its own upgrade plans it plans to put in place across the TWC footprint they now own, but those plans offer slower speed at higher prices than the Maxx rollout promised. Charter’s offering a $60 60 Mbps option and a $100 100 Mbps one, where TWC’s upgrade plans topped out at 300 Mbps and claimed not to increase prices above what subscribers were earlier paying to get 50 Mbps.[/quote] I think we can both agree what "indefinite hold" means.

AT&T do way more than just phones, they manage networking too AT&T runs our firewall at work (we outsourced it to them) and its a fucking nightmare

God fuck at&t. The apartment I'm moving into is just at&t and its data caped and is expensive as fuck.

[QUOTE=Gray Altoid;51240847][url]https://consumerist.com/2016/08/11/sorry-twc-customers-charter-acquisition-means-no-more-maxx-upgrades-for-you/[/url] I think we can both agree what "indefinite hold" means.[/QUOTE] That, like the dozens if not hundreds of other projcets that Charter, TWC, and BHN were all working on, each project must go under review to see if it meets Charter's overall standards for their nationwide standardization practices? The reason for holding out on MAXX, really, is that Charter's [I]mininum[/I] speeds will be 60/5, and there are many areas in legacy markets that can't even reach that. They have to focus on those areas prior to upgrading others that meet those standards.

[QUOTE=killerteacup;51240960]AT&T do way more than just phones, they manage networking too AT&T runs our firewall at work (we outsourced it to them) and its a fucking nightmare[/QUOTE] AT&T is a tier one provider which is a pretty huge feat.

[QUOTE=Disgruntled;51240383]So when are we gonna reanimate Teddy Roosevelt and start trust-busting again?[/QUOTE] After the inevitable heat death of the universe.

I'd like to mention that this is to acquire Time Warner [I]Entertainment[/I], not Cable. Time Warner Cable merged with Charter earlier this year.

[QUOTE=Xieneus;51241867]I'd like to mention that this is to acquire Time Warner Entertainment, not Cable. Time Warner Cable merged with Charter earlier this year.[/QUOTE] Thank god. I hated AT&T down in Florida, and especially with the data cap bullshit they're pulling, I'd hate if they got a hold of Time Warner Cable. So far TWC has been so much better in terms of reliability and speed.

[url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-22/at-t-mulls-reinvention-for-web-with-86-billion-time-warner-deal]Deal has went through to the tune of ~$84 billion. Boards are meeting today to finalize the deal.[/url]

[QUOTE=Disgruntled;51240383]So when are we gonna reanimate Teddy Roosevelt and start trust-busting again?[/QUOTE] I mean in general, we need another Bull Moose party to fix all the fucking problems our shitty ass country has.

Can't wait for AT&T's shitty business practice to manage to fuck up TWC even more. Fuck their sneaky unanounced datacaps and bullshit bandwidths and speed, they can shove them up their ass.

Long live the indie!

TWC isn't part of the merger from what I heard.

[QUOTE=343N;51246661]TWC isn't part of the merger from what I heard.[/QUOTE] Yes, this has nothing to do with Time Warner Cable, which is entirely separate and will soon be re-branded as Spectrum. Time Warner Inc. is a multimedia company. This is about AT&T wanting to expand its entertainment offerings by acquiring talent in that industry, not an attempt at controlling more of the telecom business.

I really hope this doesn't go through (as in it'll get blocked by regulators and/or Congress), since it will likely expand and reinforce the already-bad precedence that the 2009 Comcast/NBCU merger has set thus far. If anything, ALL the major telcos and media firms in the US need to be busted-up somewhat, or at the least have much more pro-consumer and pro-competition regulation slapped upon them. On top of all that, if this merger goes through it'll vastly increase AT&T's influence on the country as well- so far, it's the largest corporation in terms of money spent on political lobbying and fundraising (on both sides of the aisle), and since a successful acquisition of Time Warner would include several major media outlets (including CNN), they'd have a massive amount of control over the mass media in the US, meaning they could easily spin things their way whenever a major public debate involving them ever arises (like continuing fights over net neutrality or data caps, for example). I know that sounds like a bunch of fearmongering, but think about how much spin CNN puts on election reporting and major crises and events these past few years to fit their own ends. Now imagine that in AT&T's already somewhat shady hands.