AT&T Merger Could Threaten Netflix's & Amazon's Competitive Edge
*By Alisha Haridasani*
AT&T's $85 billion takeover of Time Warner will disrupt traditional broadcast and upend internet streaming, fundamentally changing the way consumers watch TV, said Rich Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG.
With content from HBO, CNN, and Warner Bros., AT&T will launch a "skinny bundle" of 30 channels called AT&T Watch that will be free for all AT&T wireless subscribers, Greenfield said.
“That is going to be a really disruptive move by AT&T,” he added. “It’s going to be interesting to see how the other tech companies react to this.”
Streaming services Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, which create original programming that reaches consumers directly via the internet, have broken the broadcast and cable TV stranglehold on content, putting pressure on subscription and TV advertising revenue.
“Roughly 20 percent of American households have cut the cord, discontinuing traditional MVPD services,” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon wrote in his [opinion](http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/sites/dcd/files/17-2511opinion.pdf) approving the AT&T bid. “That number, high as it is, continues to grow.”
The AT&T-Time Warner merger, which is expected to be completed next week, sets the stage for more vertical integrations between content creators and distributors. Comcast is expected to make another [bid](https://cheddar.com/videos/rich-greenfield-murdoch-no-longer-set-on-selling-to-disney-for-stock) for 21st Century Fox’s assets as early as Wednesday in an effort to wrestle it away from Disney. If Comcast is successful, it would marry Fox’s Hollywood studio and its British broadcaster Sky with Comcast's NBC Universal.
Comcast may partner up with other companies to make that offer more attractive for Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch, said Greenfield.
“In order to really beat Disney, they sort of need a stronger balance sheet,” he said.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/why-at-and-ts-victory-is-monumental).
On Saturday, New York will join neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut in authorizing mobile sports betting. Matt Kalish, president and co-founder of Draftkings North America, joined Cheddar to talk about the landmark change that is estimated to rake in $500 million in annual tax revenue on a potential billion-dollar market. Kalish also addressed the possibility that legalized sports betting in the Empire State could cannibalize his company's revenues in the bordering states. "It's pretty inconvenient, you know, to go across the border to make a bet. And people were doing it, but I think it really stifled a lot of the opportunity," he said. "So while there's some of that going on, I think really a tremendous amount, like a giant percent, of New York will be very incremental."
James Tattersall, director of sales and marketing for Lake Nona Wave Hotel, talks about the hotel's initiatives to foster diversity and how these amenities champion inclusivity in the Orlando area.
Desmond Howard, former NFL wide receiver and Modelo college football playoff ambassador, joins Cheddar News to talk about the Modelo sweepstakes honoring the 30th anniversary of his iconic punt return.
Satoshi Island is looking to become the world's first blockchain-driven economy. James Law, the chief architect of the planned private community, joined Cheddar to discuss the vision for the potential crypto capital of the world and how it will be brought to life. For people looking to live on the island, Law said they will be able to purchase land and homes and even design their own dwellings both in real life and via the metaverse. "Satoshi Island has already been digitally scanned. We have an absolute digital twin already in our metaverse," he said. Citizenship applications are expected to be launched via NFTs, he told Cheddar.
Satellite launch service Virgin Orbit has gone public on the Nasdaq via a SPAC merger with NextGen Acquisitions with a valuation of about $3.2 billion. CEO Dan Hart joined Cheddar's "Between Bells" from in front of his LauncherOne rocket in New York City's Times Square to talk about what's next after the IPO, an upcoming "Above the Clouds" mission to deliver commercial and national security payloads, and the benefits of their rockets being launched from commercial 747 aircraft. "We can launch anywhere in the world," he said. "There are almost 80 space agencies across the world, for instance, and about 10 of them have space launch. We can give them a space flight capability overnight by taking a runway and turning it into a spaceport."
CEO Tim Cook made a staggering $98.7 million in total compensation for 2021. The majority of Cook's earnings came from stocks along with his salary of $3 million. Apple recently became the first publicly traded U.S. company to have crossed the $3 trillion valuation mark.
Tech and entertainment giant Sony appears to be getting serious about automaking. An electric concept SUV — the Vision S-02 — was unveiled at CES 2022 and is slated to be produced by a new subdivision, Sony Mobility. This comes after the company revealed the Vision S concept Sedan at CES 2020.
According to the Labor Department December report, the U.S added 199,000 jobs as opposed to the more than 400,000 that had been expected. William M. Rodgers III, vice president and director of the Institute for Economic Equality at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, joined Cheddar's Baker Machado to talk about the state of the economy and noted that, despite the miss, the drop-off in the unemployment rate signaled to him that the economy is moving in the right direction. "There was an upward revision of about 100,000, a little more than 100,000, for the months of October and November, so, again, I'm not as worried or looking at this as negative as you all are," Rodgers added. He also noted the next three months would likely see slower growth due to the winter but stated that it would remain in a positive direction.
The New York Times has acquired sports outlet The Athletic in a $550 million deal. The acquisition brings the Times closer to its 10 million paid subscribers goal by 2025.
