and the newly combined WarnerMedia-Discovery. If Apple wants to compete, the easiest way forward is to buy a media giant — and there are already some historical ties between WarnerMedia and Apple.
The executives discussed the possibility of Apple being the exclusive provider of the offer, giving Apple device users the ability to purchase the Time Warner bundle through the iTunes store. During the talks, Bewkes and Cook broached the subject of Apple acquiring Time Warner to deal with one of the biggest hurdles of the $19-per-month concept: What if Apple or Time Warner eventually wanted to back out? Once the companies went live with the offer, they'd need to stay aligned. Walking away from the deal could be disastrous to both companies' external relationships.
this is terrible news