"Bloomberg reported that AT&T is close to buying Time Warner for about $US86 billion ($113 billion) and that a deal could be finalised over the weekend. Time Warner stock jumped nearly 8 per cent in regular trading and an additional 5 per cent after hours.
People's media consumption is shifting to mobile devices, which is encouraging firms such as AT&T to bet big on wireless connectivity and forcing providers of fixed broadband to hunt for new ways to compete. Industries that previously had been insulated from one another by the limits of technology are now being forced to contend with each other as entertainment and communications converge on the Internet."
The tie-up could see AT&T gain ownership over a dizzying array of household names. Time Warner - not to be confused with Time Warner Cable, which sold itself to Charter Communications earlier this year - owns HBO, meaning that AT&T could soon have the rights to "Game of Thrones" and control the most profitable cable subscription business in history."
Also falling into AT&T's hands would be the news channel CNN and its multinational operations, as well as all other channels associated with the Turner Broadcasting System. For sports fans, this could mean much of the way they experience March Madness or Major League Baseball's playoffs would be indirectly controlled by AT&T."
