---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <27101229-E9F6-4753-A626-E04CCC232091@roscom.com> Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2016 15:16:51 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: The AT&T-Time Warner Merger: A Match Built on Hope By Gretchen Morgenson Is AT&T's $85 billion bid for Time Warner the triumph of hope over experience? It is certainly true that the last two mega-mergers involving Time Warner fell far short of their promise. After the 1989 marriage of Time Inc. and Warner Communications, for instance, it took seven years for investors to see any real gains in the combined companies' stock. AT&T has long rewarded shareholders with one of the most sumptuous dividends on Wall Street. But the debt it's taking on for its Time Warner deal could put that at risk. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/business/the-att-time-warner-merger-a-match-built-on-hope.html ------------------------------ Message-ID: <E99F5E75-8A14-4880-98ED-5129F16378CD@roscom.com> Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2016 23:57:32 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Married to Their Smartphones (Oh, and to Each Other, Too) Married to Their Smartphones (Oh, and to Each Other, Too) By Brooke Lea Foster Some couples are finding that an addiction to technology is putting a strain on their marriages. Sherry Zheng was cleaning up from dinner, ready to toss out the remaining fried rice, when she grabbed her phone from the counter to text her husband, Chris. He was upstairs bathing their three children. "Should I save you the leftovers?" http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/style/smartphones-iphone-marriage-husbands-wives-technology.html ------------------------------ Message-ID: <41D933C6-E6D8-459B-BBBD-008DF41EE3BF@roscom.com> Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2016 15:12:00 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Media's Odd Couple: Proudly Freewheeling HBO and Buttoned- Up AT&T Media's Odd Couple: Proudly Freewheeling HBO and Buttoned-Up AT&T By John Koblin The telecom giant says it will not interfere with the [HBO] network, which embraces sex and violence and spends money at will. But [their] union might not be that simple. Can an elite, free-spending TV network based in Manhattan find a comfortable home at a Dallas telecommunications company led by an executive who is also the Boy Scouts of America president? Richard Plepler, the head of HBO, considered the question at his regular lunch spot - a corner table at The Lambs Club in New York. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/31/business/media/new-media-odd-couple-hbo-att.html ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Wed, 02 Nov 2016