June 12, 2018
Washington – A federal judge has approved AT&T’s merger with Time Warner. He rejected the government’s argument that it would hurt competition in pay TV and cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars more to stream TV and movies.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon announced the decision Tuesday, bringing the biggest antitrust trial in years to an end.
The ruling blesses the $85 billion merger, one of the biggest media deals ever. It allows AT&T, a phone and pay-TV giant, to absorb the owner of CNN, HBO, the Warner Bros. movie studio, “Game of Thrones,” coveted sports programming and other “must-see” shows.
The Department of Justice could decide to appeal the verdict. AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When ATT first wanted to merge with Time Warner, the Trump Administration filed an anti-trust lawsuit while the Koch Brothers attempted to present a package to Time Warner to secure it's ownership by the Kochs.
Live Streaming has become a far bigger slice of the telecommunications business than once was expected. I mean who wants to watch their favorite pictures and shows on an iPhone? Well, as it works out a lot of Americans like the idea of watching shows whenever and wherever they want.
November 17, 2017
By David Goldman
Time magazine (click here) is about to have new owners -- including the billionaire Koch brothers.
Media company Meredith (MDP) announced Sunday that it has agreed to buy the 95-year-old magazine's publisher, Time Inc., for $2.8 billion.
Acquiring the legendary magazine business gives Meredith control of dozens of other big titles such as People, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Entertainment Weekly. Meredith already publishes several top magazines, including Parents, Shape and Better Homes & Gardens.
The two media companies are worth roughly the same on the stock market. To finance the deal, Iowa-based Meredith is taking on some serious debt, borrowing about $3.6 billion from an assortment of lenders....
Picking winners and losers? Definitely. Donald Trump has done nothing but ragged on and on about fake news and CNN. Why CNN? Tell me, knowing the Kochs are supposed to be the new owners of Time Warner, why would a USA sitting president rag on about CNN?
Because if Trump was successful, the value of CNN would drop and the KOCH BROTHERS would have more cash to hand out to political cronies. THAT IS WHY DONALD TRUMP rags on about CNN. That is the only reason why.
