http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-could-make-play-for-time-warner-to-boost-tv-offering-2016-01-13
Apple could make play for Time Warner to boost TV offering
Time Warner Inc. isn’t even on the block yet, but Apple is staying extra close
to any possible movement on this front, The Post has learned.
The tech giant is among a handful of companies, all possible suitors of the
entertainment company, which has recently come under pressure from activists to
sell itself or spin off assets, sources familiar with the situation said
Tuesday.
With Time Warner shares closing at $71.06 on Tuesday — well below the $85 offer
from 21st Century Fox that its board rejected 18 months ago — the New York
company is seen as a sitting duck among media companies because it, unlike its
peers, doesn’t have a dual-class shareholder structure.
In addition to Apple, AT&T, which now owns DirecTV, is also seen as a possible
Time Warner suitor, as is Fox, which Bloomberg noted would still make a good
partner for the Jeff Bewkes-led company.
A Fox spokesperson declined to comment.
Apple is eyeing Time Warner’s assets to ease the launch of a stand-alone
streaming TV service, a senior tech insider suggested on Tuesday.
Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has struggled to create a skinny bundle of
programming from existing content partners. A deal with Time Warner would give
Apple most of what it needs: CNN news, Turner Sports and such hugely popular
shows as “Game of Thrones” and “Sesame Street” from HBO — not to mention Warner
Bros. movies and TV shows.
Eddy Cue, one of Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook’s top lieutenants, in charge of
content deals, has been keeping tabs on proceedings at Time Warner, a source
close to Apple said.
In May, Apple partnered with HBO to help it launch HBO Now, an
Internet-delivered TV service, on Apple TV, a box that connects TVs to Web
programming.
Reps for Apple and Time Warner declined comment.
Meanwhile, the pressure is growing on Bewkes to agree to a sale — or tame antsy
shareholders and activist investors threatening a proxy fight.
Bewkes met investors in a series of closed-door meetings on Monday and Tuesday,
telling them, according to sources familiar with the talks, that he’s against a
sale or a spinoff of HBO — although he hinted a sale of his media giant could
be entertained.
Splitting off HBO or the company’s Turner Broadcasting cable-TV division
doesn’t make sense in a media world where, increasingly, scale matters, Bewkes
said, according to people briefed on the meetings.
“Splitting up can destroy value,” he told an investor in one meeting, citing
the breakup of Viacom as an example. Viacom shares have struggled since
Chairman Sumner Redstone divided up his media empire a decade ago.
The Post reported Sunday that two of the media giant’s largest longtime
investors are running out of patience and would support a sale or a breakup of
the company.
Time Warner is worth $100 a share broken up — 40 percent more than its Tuesday
close, according to one analyst.
As for Fox, BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield told The Post: “I continue to believe
that a merger of the two is in both their best interests — no matter what
management says.”
He added: “They would have the finance to do it. It would involve selling down
satellite TV service BSkyB in the UK and may require other spinoffs.”
