With Murdoch out of the picture, Time Warner is essentially now in play and highly valuable assets such as the Warner Bros. movie studio, news network CNN, and TV channels including TNT, TBS and HBO potentially up for grabs. So, who are the media’s giants other possible suitors?
Apple
Would give Apple content for its iTunes and Apple TV. Time Warner is the leader in TV production, a consistent leader in film production, and has the largest film and TV library, “which makes it a perfect target”, one analyst said. However, Apple is much more focused on popular devices so a bid would be a big bet.
Like Apple, the Silicon Valley giant has hordes of cash to spend and is thought to be frustrated by the lack of intellectual property it owns. Time Warner would give Google instant access to Hollywood’s best movie and TV makers as well as a rich library and new outlets. Equally, a tie-up would be fraught with huge risk so media commentators think it is unlikely to happen.
Amazon
The online retail goliath has been aggressively pushing into the delivery of content. It has cut deals with CBS, Viacom and other top producers and opened Amazon Studios, which takes online submissions from creators and turns them into comics, movies and television shows projects. A counter-bid from Amazon seems more likely than the other tech kings such as Google or Apple but it would still be a huge gamble from a company still predominantly focused on selling real physical products online.
Most likely suitor? Rupert Murdoch. The tycoon has a track record of walking away from deals but eventually returning to get his prey.
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