After a bruising battle, AT&T has a mountain to climb
There is also a potential internal cultural clash to contend with, as a coastal entertainment company combines with a Texan telco
New York — AT&T prevailed in its gruelling fight with the US Justice Department on Tuesday, finally clearing the way for its 2016 Time Warner deal to take effect. Now the telecoms giant faces an even bigger challenge: reviving a declining TV business. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson looks to use his new role as a media baron to roll out new services, offer lower prices and create new bundles of entertainment. But reversing the slide of pay TV is no easy task. The major cable and satellite companies have been haemorrhaging traditional customers, with cord-cutters signing up instead for Netflix and other services. And though pay-TV providers have been picking up some users with their own online-TV packages, those products don’t bring in as much revenue. But AT&T has a secret weapon. In addition to the entertainment assets it’s gaining from the Time Warner takeover, which is slated to close by next week, the company is betting that more and more customers are going to be watching their TV ...
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