So Time Warner sold their cable holdings to Charter because A T & T probably did want it as part of the deal?

No, as I mentioned earlier, Time Warner Cable/Spectrum was not part of main corporate Time Warner. They were spun off as a separate company back in 2009. You're not the 1st confused by this.

AOL Time Warner has been splitting itself up for years now. First AOL was spun off (and eventually bought by Verizon). Then the cable unit was spun off (and after a failed merger with Comcast was bought by Charter). Next Time Inc was split off but I would be surprised if anyone bought it. Now Time Warner looks to become part of AT&T.

I think it's about better supporting viewing content on mobile devices for AT&T customers only. Translation: as agreements expire all WB properties will be pulled from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc. The only way to stream WB properties on your phone will be if you use AT&T as your phone carrier with an AT&T app.
Want to watch Game of Thrones on your phone? Switch to AT&T. They're not forking out $85B to create a better experience for Verizon, Sprint or T Mobile customers. They're doing this to gain an advantage over them.

Yeah this whole deal IMO is mostly about AT&T acquiring content specifically for AT&T UVerse, DIRECTV and their mobile devices.

Warners home video division is still a functioning multi million dollar business and they are not all of the sudden going to phase it out and fire everyone.

What about the useless HLN ,Warner Archive (streaming)and TRU TV? They are still functioning but seem too be on life support.

AT & T has been spying on its customers for the government:

http://www.salon.com/2016/10/25/att-...ct-hemisphere/

It covered everything from homicide investigations to Medicaid fraud. It was all done without a warrant, with law enforcement only required to keep secret the use of Hemisphere if it yielded information on a case that went public.

As for everyday, old fashioned tv viewing nothing will change much. What will probably change is that those who do not have DIRECTV will no longer be able to buy/rent WB properties such as new movie releases and past seasons of television shows. The stuff you get to watch for free with On Demand will stay the same.

Plus the fact that they save on carriage costs from the newly aquired cable channels. In the scope it's not huge but it will save a few million dollars a year.

I don't think that's likely. DirectTV and Uverse only reach a fraction of the population. Even if DirectTV Now takes off they are not going to limit their market.

Update: It's now official: http://money.cnn.com/2018/06/14/medi...eal/index.html


Judge already approved the merger 2 days ago.