AT&T to spark ‘blockbuster’ M&A summer

Media mergers expected to trigger a war for 21st Century Fox after AT&T wins Time Warner.

Zak Shaikh, senior consultant at Magid, shared his view on the topic with C21 Media.

“Tech companies have succeeded – with their vertically integrated model – in being perceived as direct competition to traditional media companies,” he told C21.

“Whether you’re Netflix, Facebook, Comcast or CBS, you’re in the business of creating, aggregating and distributing video content. The way in which you do that does not separate the industry you’re in.” Shaikh says that there was no belief that consumers would suffer from prices, conflicts of interest, or a potential monopoly.

“People thought cord-cutting would mean peak TV would end because cable networks wouldn’t have the same budgets to invest in original content – that didn’t happen.”

“OTT companies ensured there are more new shows than ever. I don’t think it’s suddenly going to cause a decrease in the amount or quality of content on offer. It’s just going to be cheaper for them to deliver.”

Read the entire article here.

Check out these other Magid articles:

• Cord-cutting: 6 things to know about dropping pay-TV
• Research: Cord-Cutting Intent is Up, But Pay-TV Households Stay Steady
• Disney raises its bid for Fox assets to $70.4B, escalates bidding war with Comcast
• Facebook Bets $1 Billion on Content, but Will it Pay Off?