17-05-2021, 11:24
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#376
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cf.mega poster
Join Date: Dec 2013
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon
The old codger is at it again...
AT&T are going to spin off their WarnerMedia assets and merge them with Malone's Discovery.
And of course for those conspiracy theorists out there, don't be surprised if this becomes another one of Malone's great tax "planning" wheezes, with as much AT&T debt (acquired when AT&T bought Time Warner) loaded onto the new entity as possible.
And if anyone remembers my comments regarding ITV, look out for future action there too. Discovery owns a chunk of ITV and with rising ad sales, ITV could be an attractive buy for the new Warner/Discovery company. Check out my first post of this thread (and my original thread on this linked from the first post of this thread), and throw in Lionsgate and Starz into the cooking pot for good measure too.
Also, I would expect Comcast to do a similar thing in the end and spin off its media assets and merge them with someone like Viacom. Remember what's currently going on with VM and O2... read between the lines there.
Now, can the old codger do any better than this deal, of course he can! Don't forget Amazon, Apple et all are still waiting in the wings. $150bn companies might sound big to us, but when you're a trillion dollar company, $150bn is not such a big deal, save for a bit of indigestion. Get the rennies out, as the biggies are still to come in the next few years.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/16/att-...discovery.html
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All interesting stuff. But it's Liberty Global that owns 9.9% of ITV plc, not Discovery. AT&T deal is likely more about AT&T focusing on infrastructure and finding the discovery content/channels a great fit. I doubt Apple and Amazon are particularly interested, this is more like the separation of cvontent from infrastructure owners and a reversal of vertical integration.
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08-04-2022, 23:25
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#377
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Media Watcher
Join Date: Feb 2006
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
Just to update this thread, it's been a while.... but as I speculated many moons ago, John Malone has created the media empire he was planning with the Warner Discovery merger completing tonight.
It certainly didn't go as I thought, but the question is, has he finished? And my reply to that would be, hell no!
It's clear that all of Hollywood will be gobbled up by the tech giants pretty soon, so before that happens to this company, will there be one more step? I think there will be and I wouldn't be surprised if we see this new company go after Paramount.
New corporate website at: https://www.wbd.com/
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08-04-2022, 23:50
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#378
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
Warner Bros Discovery Merger Closes, Altering Media Landscape; Company To Start Trading Monday
https://deadline.com/2022/04/warner-...pe-1234997171/
---------- Post added at 23:50 ---------- Previous post was at 23:27 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon
It's clear that all of Hollywood will be gobbled up by the tech giants pretty soon, so before that happens to this company, will there be one more step? I think there will be and I wouldn't be surprised if we see this new company go after Paramount.
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I think Comcast and Paramount will merge next but a deal will be like FOX and Disney deal re:
With Shari Redstone keeping a "CBS" name for Paramount USTV network
As no one can own two Major commercial network in America.
Comcast own NBC
Paramount own CBS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ision_channels
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09-04-2022, 00:50
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#379
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Media Watcher
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
I thought that too MB at one point, but would be the point of Redstone keeping CBS, if the studio that makes all the shows for the channel is owned by someone else?
One option could be a full split up of Paramount between Comcast and Warner Discovery, but I just don't see the point of Paramount selling out to Comcast, when it wouldn't be allowed to offload CBS too.
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09-04-2022, 11:58
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#380
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Virgin Media Staff
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
Paramount have only just managed to pull themselves back together. Not sure they'll now want to split up again unless they had to.
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09-04-2022, 16:17
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#381
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Media Watcher
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
I think they do have to.
I go back to what I said yonks ago about Murdoch's comments when he it was announced he was selling out to Disney and his comments went something like, "we used to be the big fish once, but there you go" or words to that affect. Meaning with the likes of trillion and now two trillon dollar companies, Murdoch thought there was zero chance he could compete against them. I think he was right and the same goes for all the rest of Hollywood.
There used to be the Big Six Hollywood companies:Fox, Disney, Warner, Sony, Paramount and Universal and there probably still will be in the future, except the names will be Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Microsoft, Google and perhaps Sony.
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09-04-2022, 20:27
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#382
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Rise above the players
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
That certainly appears to be the way things are going.
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10-04-2022, 09:10
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#383
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cf.mega poster
Join Date: Dec 2013
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon
I think they do have to.
I go back to what I said yonks ago about Murdoch's comments when he it was announced he was selling out to Disney and his comments went something like, "we used to be the big fish once, but there you go" or words to that affect. Meaning with the likes of trillion and now two trillon dollar companies, Murdoch thought there was zero chance he could compete against them. I think he was right and the same goes for all the rest of Hollywood.
There used to be the Big Six Hollywood companies:Fox, Disney, Warner, Sony, Paramount and Universal and there probably still will be in the future, except the names will be Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Microsoft, Google and perhaps Sony.
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Interesting.
Warner Bros Discovery and Disney are now strong enough as they are.
Comcast is getting there so could remain independent unless it decides to split itself up between broadband infeastructure and content.
Sony lacks a streaming arm or US network so a tie-up with Paramount might be logical but could attract a counter-bid from Microsoft, its strong gaming rival.
Google doesn't seem keen on content acquisition yet.
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10-04-2022, 14:49
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#384
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1
Sony lacks a streaming arm or US network so a tie-up with Paramount might be logical.
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Let hope not look at a bad job Sony did with "CSC Media Group" after buying them.
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10-04-2022, 15:35
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#385
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cf.mega poster
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by Media Boy UK
Let hope not look at a bad job Sony did with "CSC Media Group" after buying them.
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CSC was sub-strength but I agree that Sony did not do anything good with it. The CBS Network in the US is strong and Paramount + has potential so I could see Sony investing in these, reuniting Columbia with CBS.
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10-04-2022, 20:44
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#386
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1
CSC was sub-strength but I agree that Sony did not do anything good with it. The CBS Network in the US is strong and Paramount + has potential so I could see Sony investing in these, reuniting Columbia with CBS.
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Did you know that Sony are set to merge with Zee soon?
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11-04-2022, 21:26
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#387
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Media Watcher
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1
Interesting.
Warner Bros Discovery and Disney are now strong enough as they are.
Comcast is getting there so could remain independent unless it decides to split itself up between broadband infeastructure and content.
Sony lacks a streaming arm or US network so a tie-up with Paramount might be logical but could attract a counter-bid from Microsoft, its strong gaming rival.
Google doesn't seem keen on content acquisition yet.
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I judge all of this on what Murdoch said and did and if he thought he couldn't compete against the tech giants, then neither can the other companies that you mention.
Amazon and Apple are now involved in sports and this will only increase. Even as big as Comcast and Disney are, they are still tiny compared to Big Tech and will have to sell out to them at some point, I believe.
Google has youtube, so has everyone else's content..., so I don't predict a big move by them onto Hollywood and although Sony has been silent on the issue, I reckon they will succumb to the inevitable at some point too and sell.
Last edited by Horizon; 11-04-2022 at 21:30.
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11-04-2022, 21:47
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#388
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cf.mega poster
Join Date: Dec 2013
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
Murdoch quit due to scale. Warner Bros Bros Discovery and Disney have scale.
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11-04-2022, 22:45
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#389
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Architect of Ideas
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1
Murdoch quit due to scale. Warner Bros Bros Discovery and Disney have scale.
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Inclined to agree on this. Murdoch was becoming a smaller fish in a massive pond, but I'd not rule out the consolidation of established players maintaining a significant market presence for years if not decades to come.
Yes the tech giants (the actual tech giants - not the ones drowning in debt) are cash heavy and will be looking to invest and gobble up smaller players where they see the potential for longer term profits. Is it the pay-tv market? A long established oligopoly at best?
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12-04-2022, 20:39
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#390
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Media Watcher
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Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
It's just one oligopoly being replaced by another, one with deeper pockets. So once this transition finishes, it won't really seem that different. There still be 5/6 big Hollywood companies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1
Murdoch quit due to scale. Warner Bros Bros Discovery and Disney have scale.
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They have scale, yes, but Discovery just has crap for shows. This new company needs more quality shows. What Discovery does bring to the table is a streamer that is already global, unlike HBO Max.
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