Acquiring Media Assets
As per reports, AT&T® is looking to acquire Otter Media. Earlier this month, after the telecommunications company acquired Time Warner®, it announced more acquisition plans. This new news on acquisition is circulating on the web only days following the announcement of AT&T® regarding plans for acquisitions in future.
Otter Media is a joint venture between AT&T® and Time Warner®, and The Chernin Group, now known as WarnerMedia. However, being one of the alternative TV providers and internet companies, AT&T® is planning to fully acquire the media company to improve its streaming portfolio. The reports also indicate that this AT&T®-Otter Media deal has been on the radar for years and that it was on hold as AT&T®-Time Warner® was yet to clear regulatory hurdles. Now that the Telco giant has acquired the media company and renamed it to WarnerMedia, other acquisitions are on the cards.
The media company named Otter Media has holdings with Crunchyroll, which is a website that centers on video streaming, and FullScreen. So, acquiring the media company will give AT&T® control of both its subsidiaries. So far, a word is yet to come from AT&T® regarding what they are going to do after the acquisition, which will reportedly cost the Telco over 1 billion dollars.
High Speed Internet
Since Otter Media’s launch in 2014, its user base has grown as millions have gone into the project. The Crunchyroll website premieres content to those who stream videos, including Japanese anime, and its tie-up with the media company named Funimation has brought plenty of titles to its catalog. However, it is not clear as to how AT&T’s acquisition of Otter Media will affect the services of Crunchyroll but big things are expected out of the deal.
In 2017, Funimation announced that Sony Pictures Television has bought a major stock in the media company so as to make it an acquisition. The deal between Sony TV and Funimation had started in July 2017, and after Sony’s assessment that the media company’s worth is around $150 million, it agreed with the terms of the acquisition which was finalized in October last year.
On the other hand, the competing streaming TV providers will keep a close watch on how things unfold between AT&T® and Otter Media. If the deal is to go through, much like Sony TV’s acquisition of Funimation, it will have an influence on the streaming industry.
