By now you’ve probably heard about Comcast’s acquisition of TWC, a video-delivery company.
But Comcast isn’t the only company getting into the video-to-home TV business.
Netflix is the latest, and its CEO Reed Hastings has already confirmed his plans to take over the streaming service from Netflix CEO Reed Singel, who is stepping down.
And according to sources at AT&T, the two companies have reached an agreement to merge their respective video-services businesses, Time Warner and Cablevision.
The acquisition of the Time Warner cable service, which is owned by Time Warner, has been in the works for a while, but its impact on Comcast’s video-service business has been underreported.
AT&Ts CEO Randall Stephenson said at a press conference in November that AT&ts video-streaming business will become a standalone company, and the merged entity will “focus exclusively on the Internet and video-related businesses, and no longer the Cablevision, Time [Vista] or other services” that Comcast owns.
However, according to two sources at Comcast, the merger is only expected to take place as early as next year.
The deal is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
In a statement, AT&t said, “The acquisition is expected in 2019, which means we will be able to deliver the service at a lower price and with better customer service than we could otherwise achieve.”
Comcast’s deal with Time Warner is more than just a merger: It’s a $35.5 billion deal that will make AT&TS the second-largest video-network operator in the United States.
That’s the same size as AT& t’s merger with DirecTV, which had a deal in place until last year that would have brought AT& ts video-and-media service to all US households, but which was blocked by the FCC.AT&t has also said it will buy Time Warner in a separate transaction that would be the largest merger of its kind in history.
It will acquire Time Warner’s cable-video assets for $45 billion.
That deal, which was announced on Wednesday, is expected at the end a few weeks ago.
AT & t is expected acquire TWC’s cable assets for the same amount.
While the deal is a big one for AT& ter, it’s not as big a deal for Time Warner as it may sound.
The combined company is a joint venture between Time Warner Networks and Charter Communications, the cable-television giant, and is controlled by TimeWarner shareholders.
The new company, which would be called Charter, would become the company’s holding company and could sell its cable-TV properties to other media companies.
The merger could also give AT&ters cable-service businesses more control over their programming, as Comcast’s streaming-video service is currently limited to just some of the channels that the companies own.
It’s also likely to give AT &ts video services more flexibility in terms of which content to stream.
The deal is also a major boost for AT &t, which has been trying to build a video service that is able to offer a mix of high-speed Internet access and video streaming.
AT’s video services have struggled to compete with the likes of Netflix and Hulu, and in recent years the company has struggled to attract new subscribers to its video services.
AT will likely have to spend some of its $30 billion in cash to take on TWC and Cable Vision.
In the past, AT & ter has tried to move its video-video business out of the cable and satellite TV business and into the broadband business, but that strategy has not gone quite as smoothly as it would like.
AT is currently facing stiff competition from Verizon, which recently took a $30.5-billion investment from Comcast in a deal that also includes a video streaming deal.
AT also faces a challenge from Netflix in its video business, which competes with Comcast’s own streaming-service services.