AT&T/TW: In This Corner, Six Mega-Competitors

The new media landscape is all about marrying content with conduit amp8230 and the most interesting aspect is conduit is leading the wayamp160Comcast made the first recent this stuff has a long and mixed history move to the vertical integration model when it made its bid for NBCUniversalamp160That39s worked out quite nicelyamp160 Of course Comcast had a couple of aces to help make the model work To wit some programming experience and Steve Burkeamp160 Burke and Brian Roberts can often complete one another39s sentences andor thoughts andor instincts which makes for nice synergyamp160 The company will soon it says launch a cellular companion to its widespread wifi infrastructureVerizon sensing opportunity but thinking digital first instead of video first pounced on the ghost of AOL and now wants for a little more than first offered the many lists owned by Yahooamp160 Verizon of course has cellular and landline paired wire and FiOSAnd here comes ATampampT It39s already got lots of conduit via wire telco Uverse wireless a couple gazillion cellular subs and satellite DirecTV Now the big T wants to cut a deal giving Jeff Bewkes a nice retirement by acquiring Time Warner you know the company that jettisoned the late Time Warner Cable now a part of CharterOf note That39s three original infrastructure companies each adding contentAbout the other three I mentioned above Charter has a rather large number of subs and lots of strategic infrastructure amp8230 not to mention a friendly board that includes the seats for all the global Liberty properties plus LionsGate which bought Starzamp160 Charter thanks partly to its Time Warner Cable acquisition has extensive wifi deployment as well and it plans to go cellular via Verizon39s network which Comcast will use tooDisney has some infrastructure yesterday39s with the ABC television OampampOs and affiliatesamp160Ditto for CBSViacom which could easily produce its own reality TV tragicomedySo how long will it be before all six face offWell it will take at least a year for ATampampT to join the frayamp160That39s if the Justice Department doesn39t abandon its earlier criteria and kill itamp160Of course if Justice does kill it we should probably count on a reenergized antitrust unit to attack Comcast and Verizon trying to separate content and conduit for a few hundred years Which would of course change everythingIt is also possible scenario thatamp160the other conduitcontent behemoths will take another couple of years amp8230 if they can figure out how to accumulate infrastructure without actually building it amp8230 unless you can spell 5G amp8230 or Dish plus amp8230 or even Alphabet39s Access you know it as Google fiber which appears to have discovered just how hard it is to compete with infrastructureAnd heyamp160 What about Foxamp160 Well there39s always Sky in Europe and more satellite providers around the world amp8230 and if neither Disney nor CBS pursue Dish or TMobile or Sprint amp8230 well why notRandom NotesAbout that long regulatory year It is going to be a slog amp160Just listen to the noise from politicians and politicianwannabes this weekamp160 The plain fact is that nothing will be done and no one can really plan except to load up on even more lobbyists for ATampampT and various quotdo goodquot groups until after November 9amp160amp8230 or even January 20amp160It will take until then to know exactly from whom to begNext question What will TW do with WPCHTV channel 17 in Atlantaamp160 Sell it probablyamp160 If necessary give it away even though it was once WTCG watch this channel grow and WTBS the firstamp160true superstation in order to avoid Federal Confusion Commission oversight of the sale to ATampampTBut the forces to watch amp160as James B Stewart wrote in The New York Times on the October 25amp160in quotWhy a Media Merger That Should Go Through Might Notquot are all those who want to upend merger laws and simply prevent the world from more quotbigsquot amp160It39s a false issue thoughamp160The marriage of conduit and content might be the only way to prevent those advertising mega behemoths known as Google and Facebook from getting even biggerClick the social buttons above to share this story with your colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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AT&T/TW: In This Corner, Six Mega-Competitors

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Paul S. Maxwell

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