What the AT&T/Time Warner Merger Means for Licensing

Yesterday’s ruling, which sanctioned the $84.5 billion merger of AT&T and Time Warner, is the continuation of a competitive content strategy among the elite telecom companies that control the information super highway. In the U.S. market, those elite companies include (in order of size) AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Charter Communications, as well as T-Mobile and Sprint, who are in the process of awaiting their own merger (announced last month). What all these companies have in common is that subscribers pay significant monthly fees for access to data. As data becomes faster and easier to deliver, the telecom’s like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast need content to provide to their customers in order to differentiate their services and make them more attractive. Without content, these companies simply become utilities selling a commodity available elsewhere – and for a lower price.