NEW YORK ¨C It was the decade that altered the very definition of ¡°TV¡± ¡ª Noun: Netflix. Verb: to stream. The industry¡¯s struggle to adapt to the new terminology sparked a merger mania that has rapidly condensed the market for entertainment content and pay-TV services into the hands of a powerful few. Here¡¯s a look at what the rise of Netflix Inc., the intrusiveness of big tech and a decade of dealmaking did to the media and entertainment landscape.
As viewers decided they didn¡¯t need so many channels, the industry decided it didn¡¯t need so many companies. Once-powerful corporations such as 21st Century Fox and Time Warner Cable were acquired by rivals better equipped to navigate the new age of streaming.
Fox¡¯s studios joining the Walt Disney Co. family probably came as the biggest shock, but Disney¡¯s more meaningful acquisitions were of the Marvel and ¡°Star Wars¡± franchises, giving it near-total domination of the big screen.
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