From AOL Time Warner to DirecTV and Dish: 20 years of media consolidation

This week, DirecTV announced its intention to acquire Dish, Sling TV and the remainder of EchoStar’s television business for $1 (while assuming all of Dish’s debt), combining the two companies’ nearly 20 million satellite TV subscribers.

But it’s not just DirecTV and Dish. Over the years, AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, General Electric, General Motors, News Corp, Tumblr, and various incarnations of Time Warner have also blended or splintered as they tried to bridge the gap between communications and media.

Here’s a partial timeline of events that could end with the two companies eventually merging.

At the turn of the 21st century, it was clear that the Internet was the future. The idea of ​​instant communication and digital distribution between anyone in the world was irresistible, and AOL seemed to be on top of the world.

What better way for Time Warner to get to the bottom than to join forces with a company that’s been at the top and is offering 60 hours of free online CDs at a time? By 2009, it was all over.

Comcast, Verizon and AT&T made acquisitions to take over the media landscape built on their networks, with varying degrees of success, bringing with them brands like Oath, WarnerMedia and Peacock, as well as the completely forgotten Go90.

Over the next few years, AT&T brass came up with some terrible ideas game of Thrones, For example, shoot a vertical video version of “Snacks”. The company eventually launched HBO Max, then downgraded HBO from its streaming brand and renamed the service Max.

You know what happened next: Netflix never looked back on its path to 270 million global subscribers, while Disney relaunched its streaming bundle. Meanwhile, both Quibi and CNN Plus disappeared too quickly to make an impact.

Eventually, Verizon sold Oath’s remaining assets to Apollo Global Management, and AT&T sold WarnerMedia to Discovery. Now, AT&T is selling all of DirecTV’s business to TPG. The private equity firm is again trying to merge with Dish Network for $1, and EchoStar can continue its quest to build a nationwide Open RAN 5G network.

We’ll see you all again in another 20 years and see how it all goes, okay?

Revealed: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, edge‘s parent company.