AT&T Inc. said on Saturday it has agreed to buy Time Warner Inc. for $85.4 billion US. Its assets include the HBO, CNN, TBS and TNT networks as well as the Warner Bros film studio, producer of the "Batman" and "Harry Potter" film franchises. The AT&T Time Warner deal might face scrutiny by U.S. antitrust regulators who may worry other companies would be denied access to Time Warner channels like HBO and CNN. Owning more content gives cable and telecom companies bargaining leverage with other content companies as customers demand smaller, hand-picked cable offerings or switch to watching online. A previous Time Warner blockbuster deal, its 2000 merger with AOL, is now considered one of the most ill-advised corporate marriages on record.

Source: CBC News October 22, 2016 21:04 UTC