logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2021
51m 18s

AT&T and Warner Media: A Failed Love Aff...

iHeartPodcasts
About this episode

Continuing our history of Warner Bros/Time Warner/WarnerMedia, we look at how the failed merger of AOL Time Warner shook out. Then we explore how the media landscape changed rapidly in the 2000s. And we learn why AT&T bought WarnerMedia only to turn around and sell it off again.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Up next
Yesterday
Shell Game: Launch
HurumoAI finally sets sail in the Season 2 finale, and we find out how the world responds to a startup led by AI agents. The company explores new financing avenues and charts the next course for their increasingly merry AI pirate ship, and Kyle meets his true maker. To sign up fo ... Show More
58m 54s
Sep 11
Tech Bros Try To Make Mining Sexy - Week in Tech
Why are Silicon Valley investors pouring billions into mines? First, Reed Albergotti (Semafor) and Margaux MacColl (Vanity Fair) weigh in on the foldable iPhone: Did we need it, and is elite hardware enough to secure Apple’s future? Then, why the latest warning about the existent ... Show More
42m 23s
Sep 9
$17.1B Disappointed Haidt. Then He Realized the World Would Follow - The Story
Are kids finally going to be safer on social media? Jonathan Haidt thinks a landmark $17.1 billion settlement with Meta is a gigantic step. Not because of the money, but because of the restrictions the company agreed to put in place for young users in the US. And he believes the ... Show More
35m 37s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2025
The AOL Time Warner Disaster | The Deal of the Century | 2
When AOL and Time Warner find a way around their differences, the biggest merger in history is on. But when rivals attack and tech stocks meltdown, AOL finds it must meet Wall Street expectations or watch its mega-deal derail.Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, ... Show More
42m 8s
Aug 2025
The AOL Time Warner Disaster | Cold Case | 3
The AOL Time Warner merger is done. Now Jerry Levin and Steve Case must deliver on the bold promises. But will disharmony in the ranks and slumping ad sales be the undoing of the merger — or was the entire deal doomed from the start?Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest pod ... Show More
43m 56s
Jun 2025
Netflix and the Fall of Television | To the Max | 3
After AT&T takes over Time Warner in 2018, the media company decides it's time to enter the streaming wars. They don’t have the brand recognition that Disney has, but they do have HBO, considered the most prestigious cable television on the market. But transforming a niche brand ... Show More
44m 31s
Aug 2025
The AOL Time Warner Disaster | TTYL, AOL | 4
Can you remember the last time you got mail from an AOL email address? Or fired off an IM? In the 1990s, AOL was the hottest name in cyberspace, but now it’s a digital ghost. Journalist and author Nina Munk is the author of Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Unmaking ... Show More
42m 53s
Jul 2025
The AOL Time Warner Disaster | You've Got Mail | 1
It’s 1999 and America Online’s the hot stock of the dot.com boom. But when AOL’s CEO Steve Case gets nervous about the future, he settles on a bold plan: to buy media giant Time Warner in the biggest merger in U.S. history.Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, cur ... Show More
46m 58s
Jun 2025
Breaking Bell | The Decision to Decide | 1
After almost a century of controlling the telecommunications industry in the United States, AT&T’s dominance is threatened by new competition. It’s a challenge that “Ma Bell” has weathered before, but this time is different—the political climate has changed, and the powerbrokers ... Show More
35m 38s