Category Archives: Time Warner

AT&T To Split Its Telecom and Media Divisions after Time Warner Merger

AT&T - Time Warner Merger

The first announcement about its $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner was made last October by AT&T.

Since then, the two companies have been under a great storm of controversies and talks and the merger has greatly been doubted by far.

With President Trump’s statements against the merger and the opposition by Democrats, the merger seemed to be an impossible deal.

However, with the recent oversight given by the CEO of the huge prepaid phone service provider, Randall Stephenson, things seem positive about the merger talks.

The Oversight

The oversight given by the giant mobile and affordable telephone service provider tells us that the company is going to split its telecom and media assets after merging Time Warner Inc. Thus, AT&T is planning on running as two separate divisions after the merger.

According to experts, the company will be split into two different units with the telecom services and DirectTV by AT&T in one unit and the assets from Time Warner media in another.

Under the Time Warner media unit, the company is said to include channels like HBO, Warner Bros., CNN, etc. by Time Warner.

With this split, it has been announced that the chief strategy officer of AT&T, John Donovan will be promoted to the position of CEO of the telecommunications unit of the company. On the other hand, the entertainment chief of the giant prepaid phone service provider, John Stankey will head its media assets.

It has been mentioned that Randall Stephenson will still be the CEO of the giant mobile and affordable telephone service provider. And besides this, no other leadership decisions have been made yet.

This has been confirmed by AT&T spokesperson Larry Solomon. “No decisions on organizational structure or leadership have been finalized,” he told CNNMoney in an e-mail. “Randall and [Time Warner CEO] Jeff [Bewkes] are working through that. Randall will remain chairman and CEO of AT&T once the deal closes”, he added.

This shows that Stephenson is going to head the giant prepaid phone service provider with two unit chiefs working under him.

While talking about the merger, Stephenson said, “This is 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”

The merger talks have been on since last year and things have started to heat up lately. With the giant prepaid phone service provider still waiting to complete the Justice Department’s antitrust review, the big merger has been pending.

However, AT&T seems all set to play its cards as soon as the merger is finalized.

In A Nutshell

To sum it all up, the AT&T and Time Warner merger is going to be a big deal as can be inferred from the rounds of criticism, hype, and controversies that the matter has been dragged through.

The two huge companies are planning on changing the world of telecommunication and cable TV through this merger. Though the merger is still pending to be finalized, we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out for the telecom market in the US and for the two companies involved.

AT&T – Time Warner Merger: Senators Put the Deal under Doubt

AT&T Time Warner

AT&T, one of the leading prepaid phone service providers in United States, announced the acquisition of Time Warner in the month of October and since then, the matter has been in the news quite frequently.

Recently, the AT&T – Time Warner merger has made it to the hottest news again where the merger deal has been put under a cloud of doubt.

Democratic Senators Demanding To Block the Deal

In a letter to Jeff Sessions, the US Attorney General, a group of 11 Democratic senators have highlighted their objection to the acquisition proposal that AT&T made for Time Warner.

The major issues raised by the senators are that the acquisition or merger is going to harm the American customers by laying heavily on their pockets and affecting their access to entertainment programs. The issues include high prices, harm to net neutrality, decreased competition, lack of choice for users, content discrimination, and more.

According to the Democrats, the merger of Time Warner with the renowned mobile and home phone service provider can prove out to limit the competition among TV and mobile broadband providers. Also, the Democrats are concerned that the telecom behemoth and prepaid phone service provider AT&T might violate the principles of net neutrality by limiting the online and TV content of the competitors to its own network.

“AT&T-Time Warner could prioritize Time Warner content, including HBO, over HBO’s competitors in the premium channels market, such as Starz and Showtime. While premium channels are working to reach subscribers through over the top (OTT) services, many Americans still access premium channels by selecting them when they purchase or update their Pay-TV service, such as AT&T-owned DIRECTV. Because AT&T-Time Warner would have an incentive to drive subscribers to HBO, the combined company could choose to not market, market less vigorously, or otherwise harm its premium channel competitors during the DIRECTV sign-up process, which AT&T controls”, says the letter in this regard.

Why the Letter?

Democrats have drafted the letter and sent it to the Department of Justice because regulatory approval to the merger is still pending. Now, after bringing this letter into notice, the officials may or may not approve the merger of the huge prepaid phone service provider with Time Warner.

Thus, the acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T is still under a cloud of doubt.

It’s now in the hands of the Department of Justice. They can completely block the deal, can approve it, or approve it with terms and conditions. The giant mobile and home phone service provider will now have to wait and see what comes its way.

AT&T’s Response

For quite obvious reasons, AT&T denied everything that the letter had mentioned. In a statement, a spokesperson of the huge home phone service provider mentioned that the acquisition wouldn’t bring content discrimination but bring more choices for the consumers.

What’s next?

It’s to be seen whether the DOJ takes the decision in favor of AT&T or against it. With the letter being circulated to authorities, a great buzz has brought the merger under a dark cloud of doubt. With President Donald Trump against the deal, the odds are against AT&T. Still, let’s wait and see what’s next for the AT&T – Time Warner deal.

The Expected Meaning of AT&T Acquisition of Time Warner for Customers

AT&T, TimeWarner

 

AT&T, one of the premiere phone service providers in the United States, has agreed to acquire media powerhouse Time Warner for almost $85 billion. This is certainly one of the largest acquisitions of all time.

What is expected from this merger?

This deal is expected to help AT&T ensure a quality user experience because they access content through multiple devices like cellphones and tablets. They will be able to connect the dots as content flows across multiple devices. This deal will mainly help AT&T, one of the premiere phone service providers in US, data mine vital information about users such as location, devices as well as behaviour to deliver accurate content at the right time in the best possible manner. More importantly, it will make for a complete holistic user experience that could possibly ensure consumer friendly innovations, said Gartner Analyst, Mr. Akshay Sharma.

What This Deal Could Mean?

Increased targeted advertising plays the most important role in funding all the content consumed by users. In simple words, this deal between the two companies will make ad targeting more granular. This means that the customers accessing the same content from different devices and locations will get to see different commercials.

AT&T’s CEO Mr. Randall Stephenson Says…

This deal will be a great medium/platform for the two companies to move faster and operate better in a world where customers increasingly access all sorts of content using prepaid phone services on their mobiles. The world of distribution and content is converging. Keeping this in mind, we must move faster toward doing something totally unique, says he. He mainly stressed the concept and requirement of curating and formatting content in a totally different way for mobiles.

Benefit to AT&T

This deal will certainly add a lot of value to AT&T’s portfolio of mobile, broadband and satellite TV services through the addition of Time Warner’s content brands like HBO, CNN, and Warner Bros as the company has a huge network of almost 130 million mobile customers. In addition to that, this deal is all about AT&T attempting to get smarter instead of becoming a totally dump pipe provider. Now, all this clearly depends on content and the kind of user experience. In one way or another, it will be a kind of benefit for AT&T.

There is a Twist:

According to the critics, the deal between AT&T, a phone service provider, and Time Warner can result in less consumer choice, increase in prices and a threat to media plurality. Mr. Donald Trump, the Republican Presidential nominee, also supported critics with his opinion in this regard. As per his opinion, the deal would offer “Excessive concentration of power” to the combined company. If he wins the election next month then he will block the deal, says Mr. Donald Trump.

At Last:

AT&T will gain a lot of benefit from this deal to provide a quality user experience across multiple devices. However, considering the twists, it will not be easy for AT&T to close the deal easily. Moreover, it will be very interesting to see whether AT&T actually benefits from this deal or, if the opinion of critics proves to be right.