Comcast's Bid for Disney Ripples Through a Linked Industry

[ringmastery]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/13/business/media/13MEDI.html?hp

As soon as the bid was announced, eager investment bankers trolling for new deals began pelting executives of Time Warner and Viacom with phone calls warning of dire implications. The advice went like this, two media-industry investment bankers said:

For Time Warner, allowing another major cable company to gain control of Disney's studios and television networks would badly undercut Time Warner's bargaining power over programming costs. Disney's ESPN network, for example, could more easily squeeze Time Warner Cable for higher fees, while Comcast's cable systems could be more stubborn in haggling with Time Warner's HBO, CNN and TBS. And Time Warner would miss its chance to own Disney's ABC television stations, another valuable bargaining chip.

The pitch: bid for Disney.

For Viacom — owner of CBS, MTV and the Paramount studio — standing by while Comcast swallowed Disney would leave it surrounded by three integrated media giants, counting Time Warner and the News Corporation, all combining major studios and television networks with cable or satellite systems.

The pitch: merge with the satellite service EchoStar to match its rivals' reach.

[drdigi420]

1. fewer and fewer ppl control what the majority sees

makes it easier for the corporations to lie with impunity