Rupert Murdoch wants HBO so badly, he’s willing to buy all of Time Warner Inc. to get it.

[ErikJ]

Looks like Murdoch wont give up easily. Looks like Maher and "Real Time"'s days are numbered.

HBO Said Valued at $20 Billion by Fox Seeking Netflix Killer
By Erik Schatzker and Caitlin McCabe - Jul 16, 2014

Rupert Murdoch wants HBO so badly, he’s willing to buy all of Time Warner Inc. to get it.

HBO is one of the main reasons, along with rights to sports programming and international content distribution, that Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. (FOXA) offered $85 a share for Time Warner, said a person familiar with the matter. Fox and its advisers value HBO, the home of buzzworthy TV like “Game of Thrones” and “Girls,” at more than $20 billion, the person said. Time Warner said today it rejected the offer from Fox.

Fox sees HBO, which offers an online-streaming service to cable subscribers to compete with Netflix Inc. (NFLX), as having more potential to expand internationally and on mobile and digital platforms, the person said. While Fox doesn’t expect to be able to run the business better than Time Warner has, it can add its own more prestigious programming, such as “The Americans,” to the network’s offerings, the person said. HBO is key to any strategy Fox pursues for online-video services, the person said.



“It’s really now HBO that’s the driver, and I think that’s the Holy Grail that Rupert had his eye on,” said Porter Bibb, managing partner at Mediatech Capital Partners, told Tom Keene and Scarlet Fu in a radio interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance.” “It’s a huge money maker with a huge potential. And probably the only Netflix killer that’s in the world right now.”

Rejected Bid

Fox could make a higher offer than its earlier bid, depending on Time Warner’s willingness to begin talks and open up its books for Fox, a person familiar with the matter said. The companies said today they aren’t currently in discussions.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-16/hbo-said-valued-at-20-billion-by-fox-seeking-netflix-killer.html

[donco]

1. Ya think that

rupert wants to bury Alpha House?

[KamaAina]

2. Not to mention John Oliver

[MohRokTah]

3. He wants the HBO library.

It's proven to be a valuable asset after the airing of the originals. All of the streaming companies leverage HBO content, including HBO and their affiliated cable providers.