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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

After NBC-Comcast, Who Is The Next M&A Target

Whether Vivendi agrees to sell its stake to GE or not, the media industry is poised for even more merger and acquisition activity. So what will be the next announcement. Is News Corp and Time Warner interested in buying MGM? Is Direct TV about to merge with AT&T or Verizon? Or will they buy a Sirius instead? And what happens to Cablevision after it spins off its MSG unit? Will it sell off its cable nets or finally sell its NY cable systems to Time Warner?

There are also a number of other independent cable networks in need of some leverage. Which one of those could be next to be bought by a bigger fish - HGTV, Hallmark, or others?

Always fun to speculate, and the announcement always seems to surprise some. But in a maturing industry facing consolidation because of technological and other changes, growth through acquisition is no surprise at all. The question remains, who is next.