AT&T to merge WarnerMedia with Discovery: reports

WASHINGTON - US telecommunications giant AT&T could announce as soon as Monday a merger between its WarnerMedia unit -- which owns CNN and HBO -- and Discovery media, media reports said.

The new entity is expected to be owned by AT&T and Discovery, according to a CNBC report, but no details were immediately released. 

Bloomberg, citing people with knowledge of the matter, reported a deal "could be announced announced as soon as this week."

Contacted by AFP, neither AT&T, WarnerMedia, or Discovery had responded on Sunday evening.

The transaction could create a giant able to compete with Netflix and Disney+, which have seen their number of subscribers surge during the pandemic. 

A slowdown in the growth of the Disney empire's streaming platform between January and March, however, made investors fret and caused the group's shares to plunge last week. 

AT&T bought Time Warner in 2018 for $80 billion, then renamed it WarnerMedia, which owns HBO, Warner Bros. studios and cable channels such as CNN. 

Discovery has channels in 220 countries, according to its website. 

WarnerMedia had net sales of $30.4 billion in 2020, and Discovery -- which owns Eurosport -- of $10.7 billion.

Agence France-Presse

HBO Max streaming service said to launch in May

AT&T said on Tuesday that its HBO Max streaming service would launch in May for $15 a month, joining a crowded field.

The company said HBO Max would become the “workhorse” for its video business as cord-cutting of traditional TV expands. It hopes to migrate people who pay for HBO in different ways today to the new platform.


The service grew out of AT&T’s $81-billion purchase of Time Warner, which AT&T overhauled and rechristened WarnerMedia.

HBO Max will challenge Netflix alongside Disney, Comcast and Apple. It would be the most expensive of the new services that had announced prices, which could make it challenging to expand its customer base.

It is also the same price as HBO Now, the current HBO streaming service for people who don’t get the cable channel.

Some existing subscribers to HBO’s cable channel or HBO Now will get free access to HBO Max, AT&T said.

The company said it would launch a version of HBO Max with ads in 2021, a new twist for a brand known for being ad-free. The company wants to reach 50 million subscribers in the United States by 2025, and 75 to 90 million worldwide. It expects HBO Max to be profitable starting in 2023. —AP

‘Safe’ Galaxy Note 7 smokes up airplane cabin

Samsung’s woes just have never seemed to end ever since its Galaxy Note 7s literally started to go up in smoke. And despite the recall and replacement units, a report has surfaced about one of said replacements burning through airplane carpeting.

The alleged “safe” Note 7 was brought on board Southwest Airlines flight 994 by owner Brian Green, which he promptly powered down at the request of the crew. The next thing he knew, the device had started smoking in his pocket and quickly dropped it on the airplane floor, reports The Verge.

A “thick grey-green angry smoke” had started pouring out of the device, said Green. His colleague who went back in the cabin to collect some personal belongings noted that the device had burned through the plane’s carpeting and scorched the subfloor.

Thankfully there were no injuries reported and passengers were able to exit safely via the main cabin door, according to a Southwest Airlines spokesperson that The Verge interviewed.

Green’s Note 7 was picked up from an AT&T store last Sept. 21. Its packaging had a black square symbol to indicate a replacement Note 7. It also had a green battery icon and was 80% charged when the incident occurred.

Samsung’s website for checking whether a Note 7 should be recalled by checking its IEMI number even gave it a clean bill of health.

Samsung went through a lot of trouble to get its battery-issue-afflicted smartphones out of the market as soon as possible. The CEO for Samsung USA even addressed the public to try and salvage their good name. To have a pronounced “safe” device exhibit the same defect as the recalled batch is a debilitating blow to the company’s already heavily tarnished reputation.  Alfred Bayle

source: technology.inquirer.net