mergers

As another wave of mergers looks set to alter the media and entertainment landscape, Wall Street investors seem enamored with the prospect of major change in the often beaten-down sector.

In the opening round of the Justice Department’s suit to block AT&T’s merger with Time Warner, the parties disagree over when the trail should start and how long it should last. AT&T wants to get things going on Feb. 20 and wrap it up in 10 days. The DOJ argued for a May 7 start and 15 days.

Disney’s bid for Fox and AT&T’s push for Time Warner reveal a Death Star theory of media, but what if bigger isn’t always better?

At a time of rapid change and consolidation in the media industry, the Justice Department’s lawsuit over the AT&T-Time Warner combination is likely to put a pause on media deals and raise questions about this DOJ’s antitrust standards.

A day after his Justice Department sued to stop AT&T’s purchase of Time Warner, President Trump weighed in on the potential impact of the deal on the country. He said he’s not going to get involved in active litigation, but then added: “Personally, I’ve always felt that that was a deal that’s not good for the country. I think your pricing is going to go up. I don’t think it’s a good deal for the country. But I’m not going to get involved. It’s litigation.”

The Department of Justice is suing to block AT&T’s $85 billion bid for entertainment conglomerate Time Warner, setting the stage for one of the biggest antitrust cases to hit Washington in decades.

AT&T says it hired media lawyer Daniel Petrocelli, whose clients have included President Donald Trump, to defend its acquisition of media and entertainment company Time Warner if the government sues to block the deal.

AT&T remains in discussions with the Justice Department about the telecom giant’s planned $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner and is still confident it will be able to seal the deal, AT&T CFO John Stephens said at a Morgan Stanley investor conference in Barcelona on Thursday.

A swoon has left Time Warner with a market cap of $68.1 billion, well below the $85.4 billion AT&T agreed to pay for the media-entertainment conglomerate.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, testifying today at a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, pushed back on recent reports suggesting the politicization of the government’s review of the AT&T and Time Warner merger. Last week, it was widely reported that the Department of Justice asked AT&T to divest Turner as a condition of winning approval, possibly owing to Donald Trump’s distaste for CNN.

After almost a year of review,  everybody seems suddenly gobsmacked that the Justice Department had serious reservations about  the $85 billion Time Warner merger.

AT&T Inc. will try to dig into whether the White House influenced the Justice Department’s review of the company’s planned takeover of Time Warner Inc. if the government sues to block the deal, according to people familiar with the matter. In the event of a trial over the $85.4 billion deal, AT&T intends to seek court permission for access to communications between the White House and the Justice Department about the takeover, said the people, who asked not to be named because the deliberations are private.

There’s a battle raging inside Charter Communications, and the outcome could decide whether the cable giant continues its acquisition spree — or gets gobbled up itself.

Everyone knows the president hates CNN — but Trump’s Fox News ally also has multiple bones to pick with the proposed deal.

CEO Randall Stephenson disputed claims that he offered to sell CNN to win government approval of AT&T’s pending acquisition of CNN’s parent company Time Warner. “I have never been told that the price of getting the deal done was selling CNN. Period. And likewise I have never offered to sell CNN,” Stephenson said. But AT&T is also getting ready for a possible court battle, he said.

The Justice Department told AT&T that it wanted the telecom company to sell its DirecTV satellite unit or Time Warner’s Turner, which houses CNN, TBS and TNT, to get the deal approved. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said: “I have never offered to sell CNN and have no intention of doing so.”

The Justice Department is actively considering a lawsuit to challenge AT&T’s planned acquisition of Time Warner, according to people familiar with the matter. The department’s antitrust division is preparing for litigation in case it decides to sue to block the deal, these people said. Simultaneously, the department and the companies are discussing possible settlement terms that would lead to the deal winning government approval with conditions attached.

Seven groups from both sides of the political spectrum asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to stop AT&T from buying Time Warner if, the groups wrote, “as it appears, [the proposed deal] would substantially harm competition, [we urge the government] not to allow it to go forward unless those harms can be effectively prevented.”

AT&T and Time Warner have pushed out the closing deadline for their $85 billion merger as the companies are still seeking antitrust approval from the Justice Department. After the Oct. 22 deadline passed over the weekend without the deal being finalized, the companies filed with the SEC to extend the termination period for a “short period of time to facilitate obtaining final regulatory approval required to close the merger.”

AT&T Inc. is exploring options for its Digital Life home security business, including selling it, as it seeks to pay down debt following its planned $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc., people familiar with the matter say. The divestiture would mark a reversal for AT&T, which entered the U.S. home security market with the introduction of Digital Life in 2013. The service offers customers sensors and cameras so they can monitor their homes and pets on their phones.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the government review of AT&T Inc.’s $85 billion takeover of Time Warner Inc. has reached an advanced stage, people close to the situation said, a significant milestone in a deal that was closely watched for signs of how the Trump administration would view large mergers. WSJ subscribers can read the full story here.

There are rumblings at the highest executive levels that AT&T’s top executives are considering divesting some Time Warner assets — including news organization CNN and celebrity gossip site TMZ — after they merge.

AT&T said Friday it would launch an advertising and analytics unit led by a senior Madison Avenue media-buying executive Brian Lesser — the latest hint of the plans the telecommunications giant has for its pending $85.4 billion purchase of Time Warner Inc.

Starz, the pay-cable service that is part of Lionsgate Entertainment, released a report suggesting AT&T might push customers to HBO over competitors like Starz. AT&T dismissed the claims. “This conclusion doesn’t square with the facts,” the telecommunications company said in a statement.

Charter Communications shares surged to a record high on Monday after a source said Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp was considering an acquisition offer, even as Charter shot down the possibility of it being the acquirer in any merger with SoftBank’s U.S. wireless carrier, Sprint Corp.

Charter has shot down a plan for it to buy Sprint and create a media and telecom giant. The proposed merger would have resulted in a huge new company controlled by Sprint’s owner, the Japanese tech firm SoftBank, according to reports last week. But Charter dismissed the idea late Sunday.

U.S. antitrust officials have started talking to representatives from AT&T and Time Warner about possible conditions that could secure approval of their $85.4 billion tie-up, according to people familiar with the matter. The early-stage discussions suggest that government lawyers have nearly finished their months-long look at how AT&T, the biggest pay-TV distributor, would reshape the media landscape with its bid for the owner of CNN and HBO.

AT&T is in talks with Peter Chernin about acquiring the balance of Otter Media, their 3-year-old joint venture, two sources told the New York Post. The move is part of a wider effort by the telecom giant to clean up a host of joint ventures ahead of its expected acquisition of Time Warner, sources said.

Despite rumors of a Sinclair tie-up, Tribune Media is unlikely to sell off the whole company, according to Jefferies analyst John Janedis.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has made overtures to Tribune Media to discuss a potential combination, people familiar with the matter said today, a deal that would hinge on existing FCC ownership regulations being relaxed. A deal between Sinclair and Tribune, which have market capitalizations of $3.6 billion and $3 billion, respectively, would combine two of the country’s largest TV station owners.

Buckle up: Media companies are preparing for some whirlwind courtships in what’s expected to be the biggest merger bonanza in years. 

Rumors are swirling around about a merger between the communications giant and the cable provider.

Sami Main highlights the dynamics including a subscription boom following the post-election, post-truth wave, the fake news explosion and the acceleration of cord cutting.

CBS has retained banks Moelis and Goldman Sachs to advise the company on a possible merger with Viacom. National Amusements Inc. controls both and has asked the two to examine a possible combination.

CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications are in advanced talks to merge, according to people familiar with the matter, in a deal that would create an enterprise telecommunications player worth more than $50 billion, including debt.

Mario Gabelli, the second-largest shareholder in Viacom behind Sumner Redstone, said he believes billionaire John Malone is cooking up a deal for the company. Malone weighed in on the battle for control of the New York media conglomerate Thursday at Allen & Co.’s exclusive business confab in Sun Valley, saying the company’s assets are undervalued because of all the drama around it.

The coming consolidation of John Malone’s media empire will occur, Starz CEO Chris Albrecht said on Thursday. The question is when.

Lionsgate has made a formal overture to Starz to initiate acquisition talks, a year after the companies were brought together by investor John Malone. Starz said in a regulatory filing Thursday that Lionsgate has advised that it “intends to explore whether there is a potential mutually beneficial combination of the two companies.”

Investment banker Jordan, Edmiston Group says 1,758 transactions were announced with a total value of $106.2 billion. This is up in both areas versus the same nine-month period a year ago.

It’s starting to feel inevitable that Lionsgate and the Starz premium cable channels will merge operations, brought together by the command bond of investor John Malone. But how quickly the companies will tie the knot is still the subject of much speculation. The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that the two entities were in advanced merger talks. That was downplayed by insiders at both companies and a senior Lionsgate investor, all of whom acknowledge that the concept of merging has been discussed in abstract but disputed that talks to unite the companies are under way.