Apple expressed interest in buying Time Warner, the owner of HBO, CNN and Warner Brothers, in a meeting held late last year, according to a report in the Financial Times.
The paper claims Eddy Cue, who oversees Apple's iTunes store, Apple Music and iCloud, raised the subject of a potential bid in a meeting with Olaf Olafsson, Time Warner's head of corporate strategy, in New York. The Financial Times cites three people who were briefed on the discussion.
Apple was once in the running for buying Time Warner Cable, but now that they have walked away from that, they are considering a buyout of Netflix. Although there never were any talks to buy Time Warner Cable that got out of the preliminary stage, Apple is actively on the market trying to buy up some media properties that could expand their own service offerings.
CABLE WARS-The maligned merger between Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks is complete, which means the three companies have now become the country's second-largest cable provider, despite months of warnings from consumer and open internet advocates who assailed it as the creation of a 'price-gouging' monster.
Charter has completed its purchase of Time Warner Cable, combining the two companies and forming the United States' second largest cable operator, just behind Comcast. Charter also completed its acquisition of the smaller cable provider Bright House Networks. With the three companies combined, Charter now serves over 25 million customers in 41 states.
Time Warner Cable announced it is transitioning customers to an all-digital lineup in southeast Wisconsin including the cities of Milwaukee, Kenosha, Waukesha and Racine. Along with delivering improved picture and sound for customers currently receiving analog signals, the move to all-digital frees up capacity in TWC’s network to offer faster Internet speeds and additional on-demand content, the company is informing its subscribers in the area.
The Federal Communications Commission said Friday it had formally voted to approve Charter Communications Inc.’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc., creating a telecommunications giant while imposing tough operating restrictions on it.
The conditions placed on the merger will help mitigate threats to online video competition that could be exacerbated by cable-industry concentration, officials say.
A majority of the five-member U.S. Federal Communications Commission has voted to approve Charter Communications’s acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, two sources briefed on the matter said on Thursday.
The deals, which would create the second-largest U.S. broadband provider and third-largest video provider, won the backing of FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Michael O’Rielly this week, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
Frontier Communications executives have agreed to meet with Time Warner Cable representatives to discuss the stalemate over carriage of SportsNet LA, the TV channel owned by the Los Angeles Dodgers -- a move that could lead to a thaw in the frosty relations among pay-TV providers in Southern California.
Time Warner Cable says it is encouraged by the company's skinny bundle trials, but given the company's looming acquisition by Charter, that may not mean all that much. Since late 2015 Time Warner Cable has been running a trial in New York that provides a free Roku 3 and a smattering of different cable networks -- without a traditional cable box. According to the promotional flyer being sent to users, customers under the trial have the choice of a $10 20+ channel bundle, a $20, 20+ channel bundle with Showtime and Starz, and a $50, 70 channel bundle that also includes Showtime and Starz.
