Broadcast-streaming. The $85.4bn bid by AT&T for Time Warner has been unconditionally approved by a federal court in Washington. This embarrassing defeat for the US Department of Justice (which opposed the deal) is expected to pave the way for a spate of mega-mergers in the USA (see Comcast story) as digital companies and broadcasters alike chase the content and outlets they will need in order to compete with Netflix in global streaming services. That’s why the vibrations from the AT&T-TimeWarner deal will be felt right across the TV world, starting in the UK where US investments are everywhere. Fox owns Sky, Viacom owns Channel 5, and Liberty Media owns Virgin Media. Liberty also has a 10% stake in ITV which itself is rumoured to be ready to buy a share in the BBC’s pay TV network UK TV, which is jointly owned by another US broadcaster – Discovery.
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AT&T-TimeWarner is approved but what comes next?
