https://medium.com/ipg-media-lab/what-the-at-t-time-warner-acquisition-means-for-the-u-s-content-industry-3bf35a5e374f

Last Tuesday, the long-drawn-out AT&T acquisition of Time Warner was approved by a federal judge, sending ripples through the U.S. media landscape. Much has been written about this acquisition and its immediate impact on the media industry, particularly in terms of how this deal serves as a bellwether on the ongoing acquisition drama between Disney and Comcast over 21st Century Fox’s assets.

Upon further examination, however, this acquisition reveals some larger emerging trends in the media industry, where three groups of powerful companies vying for differentiated content —consolidated media conglomerates like Disney, telecom behemoths like AT&T, and tech giants like Facebook and Apple — will continue to push media consumption towards owned digital channels, restructuring the U.S. media landscape in a post-Peak TV world where controlling distribution is becoming as important as owning content. Let’s take a look at how this triumvirate of companies seek to build off on evolving user behavior and reshape the U.S. media industry.