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eCounsel group

A boutique firm with unparalleled expertise in business and technology. We have good command of industrial ecology and legal practice, and have undertaken highly regarded cases. Because the small business scope, we pay more emphasis on effectiveness and efficiency, and choose clients with deliberation. The managing partner not only has extensive experiences in various legal issues more over than 20 years, but invests and manages several technology companies. In addition, he always checks each case rigorously. Clients’ business objectives are our primary focus. To achieve the same in the most cost-effective fashion trumps all seemingly sophisticated legal discussions.

Dumb Pipe or Smart Pipe, AT&T Acquires Time Warner

2016 - 10 - 22

When you get a new phone, would you try out the new services or APPs from your service providers? Or you take them as obsolete dumb software that just take up space in your phone?


各位讀者拿到一隻新手機,你趕快會試用看看遠傳、中華電信或台哥大出了什麼新服務、新APP?還是你通常會把電信商出的APP或服務當作可有可無、佔用手機空間的笨軟體呢?

電信商都不甘心自己只是提供基本資料傳輸的笨水管(dumb pipe ),所以努力開發加值應用程式和市集(Market Place)。不管是影音串流或電子書服務,都是希望多多從使用者身上撈金,進而產生綜效,打造下一個如蘋果或Android的生態系。

可是,有用嗎?

今天,根據Wall Street Journal報導,美國電信商AT&T正打算併購美國內容商時代華納。時代華納昨天收盤價$89.48,市值647億美元;AT&T打算出到800億,用部分現金部分換股來併購。幾個月之前,Apple也和時代華納談過,雖然最後沒下文,但也不表示不會重啟談判。

電信公司不甘心只當個「笨水管」,要玩這麼大!?

我們先看時代華納,這個美國一等一的媒體娛樂巨頭,在和AOL分手後,近年來定位朝純內容商走,它旗下有哪些殺手級寶物呢?
HBO,頂天的內容製作,擁有多項高人氣自製內容;CNN,這不用多說,美國最具影響力的全球新聞網;TNT、Turner Sports,最為人知的應該美國職籃NBA的轉播;Cartoon Network,卡通頻道,24小時專門播放卡通片,台灣也有;Warner Bros,平常看電影,一定會知道的超級大片商。更別忘了,關於OTT的佈局,時代華納除了自己的HBO Now以外,也還擁有Hulu的10%股權。

所以,這併購如果真簽了,看來會有一場超好看的腥風血雨啊!

這件事,又讓人想起2000年時AOL併購時代華納,之後失敗而分手,2年就虧損近1000億美元。
以及2011時AT&T想併T-Mobile被反托拉斯給擋掉、還有在2015超重量級的那椿500億美元AT&T併DirecTV。

誰要併台灣的「內容提供商」?

講回台灣,有沒有「內容提供商」是值得被中華台哥大或遠傳這種笨水管給併的呢?

就我們觀察,有點難。

KKBOX的母公司早被日本和新加坡給收了;城邦也老早就是香港人的了;其他搞流行音樂和視頻平台,不僅獨立來看成不了氣候,連自產的IP都沒有,全得看人家臉色逐年拿授權;擁有自製劇和新聞頻道的三立和民視的影響力與內容質、量都上不了檯面;台灣的新媒體雖然也有人在努力,但經常會在領域專業不足(口袋不深也是個原因啦)的情形下勉強產出會輕易被打臉的內容。

OTT天下,誰與爭鋒? 我們繼續觀察。

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