24/10/2016 World Business Report

Convincing the politicians and regulators.

AT's plan to take over Time Warner is challenged.

And as China's Communist Party annual gathering gets under way,

can the country evolve from exports and heavy industry to growth

It's the biggest media deal in years.

The American telecoms company AT will today file for regulatory

the media and entertainment giant Time Warner.

The US telecoms giant will buy entertainment the group

For that much money you could buy Manchester United

football club 43 times over, Yahoo 18 times over

and even Twitter six and a half times over.

AT has 141.8 million wireless customers and 25 million TV

subscribers, making it the largest pay TV provider in the US.

The deal will allow AT to combine its formidable

distribution network with Time Warner content including

everything from fan favourite Game of Thrones to NBA basketball rights,

But some critics have warned that this deal concentrates too

A spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate

Hillary Clinton said there were a number of questions

and concerns about the deal that regulators needed to scrutinise.

Republican candidate Donald Trump has said

that he would block the merger if he wins.

As an example of the power structure I'm fighting, AT is buying Time

Warner and thus CNN, a deal we will not approve in my administration

because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few.

Frank Biondi is a former Chief Executive of Viacom,

Good morning, Frank. Or good evening as the case may be for you. Give us

your take on this megamerger. Will it ever get through given what it

combines? I think it will. I think this is

really the second deal, Comcast NBC being the first where a distributor

recognises that owning a captive source of high-quality programming

is really going to be the key in the future where there's going to be

multiple distribution outlets. I think you'll see a similar as

Comcast got and a very similar set of caveats that are built in they

will have to agree to that will expire in three to five years. There

will be some changes and the lawyers will have to work hard on behalf of

AT and Time Warner. In terms of what it means for their customers,

does it mean less choice for them and perhaps higher prices, which is

what some are warning? I don't think so. In your intro you

said they would have access to Game of Thrones and NBA basketball, AT

customers already have that under licenses they have with Time

Warner... Through their HBO license and their basic cable service

licences. I think this is just about having access to the creative

community and if you want to create programming exclusive to your

distribution channels then you can. But that doesn't mean you won't try

to buy or create it with third parties as well. But there's a risk

having all this money invested distribution were suddenly you're

the last man and then you don't really control your own programming

destiny. That's what's driving it I think. So you're saying the concern

is more for the media industry as opposed to the user at home who is

deciding which package to go with? I think so. I think there will be more

of what we call small bundles being offered by distributors that haven't

even been born yet and some of the Time Warner programming will find

its way into that if it makes economic sense. None of this strikes

me as violating traditional US anti-trust law. It is not vertical

integration or horizontal integration, it is the most basic

kind of vertical integration in the sense that you are getting control

of the small portion of a universe that ultimately will be the key to

the future in digital distribution. If you are an AT customer, is it

not the temptation on the part of AT/ Time Warner, whatever the

final company name will be, to highlight their own content as it

were as opposed to other content on the bundle, does that make sense? So

they really highlight the things like Game of Thrones, CNN as opposed

to other news channels you could get through the package as well. Does

that make sense? It sounds devious and threatening but for practical

purposes I don't see how you would do that. AT through DirectTV

already have it. I think that's pretty remote. It is conceivable but

that's not something I would lose a lot of sleep over. We will let you

get some sleep now. Frank, thanks for your time. We appreciate your

insight into this story. Very interesting. We will keep you across

every twist and turn on that one to see if they get down the aisle,

those two companies, as they look to marry as it were.

of the leaders of China's Communist Party.

The meeting, in a heavily guarded hotel in Beijing,

is only open to a few members of the state news media.

As well as endorsing the leadership's policy plans

and key personnel appointments, they'll also be talking

After the slowest growth in 25 years it's begining to perk-up again

over the last three successive quarters it's grown

But there are still big concerns about the country's long-term

economic performance and what effect that might

have for the rest of the world.

With me is Jinny Yan, Chief China Economist,

China Markets Strategy, ICBC Standard Bank.

Nice to see you as ever. Give us your take on what we may get out of

this meeting. Will we hear any new policy in terms of the economy? It's

not really about setting economic policy. The more important economic

meeting is at the end of the year. This is really about consolidation

of power for the party, talking about party discipline and also you

will hear the term institutionalisation of the

anticorruption campaign. Political stability of course underpins

economic stability and that's why this meeting is important for the

economy as well. We're coming to the end of the year and it's

interesting, at the beginning of this year it was all about the risks

China poses to the global economy. But as we've gone through this year,

other issues like Brexit and the US election and other things have taken

precedence and China has gone on the backburner a little bit. How has

this year been for China and also for the rest of us as a global

economy, what are we looking ahead to now as far as China is concerned?

This year the hard landing people feared in China has been averted it

looks like, so things are very stable in China. Of course it came

at the cost of perhaps more credit pumping by China, some of the

traditional things we see China doing whenever growth is a little

bit wobbly. Of course the housing market also leveraging up, so more

debt in China. So all of this growth and stabilisation growth is coming

at a cost, and also perhaps more reforms are now being slowed. For

the rest of the world it does mean, however, that we will see that China

will continue to grow perhaps next year and create more jobs, and that

really is fundamental. Jinny, we will talk to you again in the future

I know about how China is doing. For the moment, thank you very much.

Microsoft has said it will be increasing pricing for its volume

licensing enterprise software and cloud services,

in the UK in the wake of the sterling's plunge

The price increase, from January 1st, 2017,

software and 22% for its enterprise cloud services.

Pricing changes will not apply to consumer software

The head of the Belgian region of Wallonia has rejected

what he calls an ultimatum from Brussels for him to back the EU

The EU said Thursday's planned summit with Canada could only go

ahead if the Walloon administration guaranteed by Monday evening that it

wouldn't stop Belgium from signing the agreement.

Wallonia has expressed concern that the deal known as CETA

could allow southern Belgium to be flooded with products

Let's have a quick look at financial markets.

You can look at how the trading week is progressing. Fairly steady, no

strong gains or losses for Japan, Hong Kong and elsewhere. That's how

things are progressing so far as we start a brand-new trading week.

That's all from me for now. I will see you in a few minutes as we look

at the other stories from the papers.

Leaders of the medical profession have listed 40 treatments

and procedures which they are say offer little or no benefit