Apple allegedly keeping 'close eye' on possible sale of Time Warner, with streaming TV in mind

Apple is paying close attention to the possibility of Time Warner — or parts of it — going up for sale, potentially with the intent of buying assets to help launch a streaming TV service, according to rumors.

TW is thought to be a "sitting duck" for buyouts because it doesn't have a dual-class shareholder structure, and its shares are valued well below an $85 offer from 21st Century Fox that was rejected a year and a half ago, the New York Post said. Sources told the paper that aside from Apple, AT&T and Fox are also interested in TW.

Apple's head of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue — generally responsible for content deals — has specifically been keeping a watch on TW, according to one of the sources, described as close to Apple.

The Post speculated that Apple's interest is in the broad swaths of content TW would give it instantly, including Turner Sports, CNN news, popular HBO shows like Game of Thrones, and Warner Bros. movies and TV shows. First-party content would be advantageous to Apple, especially since talks for a streaming TV service reportedly fell apart due to resistance to a "skinny" channel bundle costing less than $30 per month. With TW in tow, a streaming TV service wouldn't need many outside deals, and Apple could more easily dictate pricing.

In practice, Apple is unlikely to want to take over TW in whole or in part, since that would require getting involved in businesses Apple has previously expressed no interest in.

Rumors have claimed that Apple might be interested in producing original programming, much like Netflix, but through recruiting and partnerships rather than buyouts. Cue dodged the topic in an October interview.

"We love working with our partners. We're great at technology, and they're great at creating content, and we think that's a great partnership to have," he said.

57 Comments

gatorguy 24609 comments · 13 Years

About 8 years ago

Note when discussing that TimeWarner Media and TimeWarner Cable are two different entities.

ireland 17435 comments · 18 Years

One way to spur interest for their assets is to mention Apple ammirite?

sog35 said:

This is a no brainer.

Apple needs to buy Time Warner. It will only cost about $60 billion. Right now Time Warner makes about $4 billion in profit a year.

Apple could pay $10 billion in cash and the rest could be Apple stock that they bought back.
That's right. Apple could reissue $50 billion in Apple stock which they bought for under $100 a couple of years ago. Apple bought back $50 billion in stock at $60-$70 a share in 2013.

IMO, this is the real power of the buyback. Buy the stock for cheap in 2013 for $60 a share. Then when the stock is $100, reissue the shares to acquire another company.

Isn't the stock Apple "bought back" retired, not available to reissue?

SpamSandwich 32917 comments · 19 Years

Sounds entirely like a fabricated story to elevate TW's asking price.

techprod1gy 838 comments · 11 Years

Does this type of deal really fuel a streaming service? I assume Apple could release a "Netflix" service with no real issue correct? I know this gives them content and content production capabilities...but would this be a game changer for their efforts to re invent the tv experience???? Asking as I do not have a clue what the right answer is.