New York — AT&T said on Saturday it agreed to buy Time Warner for $85.4bn, the boldest move yet by a telecommunications company to acquire content to stream over its high-speed network to attract online viewers. The biggest deal in the world in 2016 will, if approved by regulators, give AT&T control of cable TV channels HBO and CNN, film studio Warner Bros and other coveted media assets. The tie-up will likely face intense scrutiny by US antitrust enforcers worried that AT&T might try to limit distribution of Time Warner material. AT&T will pay $107.50 per Time Warner share, half in cash and half in stock, worth $85.4bn billion overall, according to a company statement. AT&T said it expected to close the deal by the end of 2017. Dallas-based AT&T said the US justice department would review the deal and that it and Time Warner were determining which Federal Communications Commission licences, if any, would be transferred to AT&T in the deal. US legislators were already worried about ...
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