Amol Sharma

The labor agreement that writers struck with studios and streaming platforms will likely accelerate the end to “peak TV," a decade that included an explosion of programming for viewers and job opportunities for talent in Hollywood. Streamers will have to find a way to pay increased talent costs—from the writers’ settlement, along with an earlier deal with directors and whatever is finalized with actors—without adding to their overall production costs. That will likely mean that companies will make fewer new shows and cancel even more that are on the bubble.

Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Gerard Baker aggressively defended the newspaper against criticism that its reporting on President Donald Trump has been soft, saying the coverage has aimed to hold the new administration accountable without becoming “oppositional.” Baker said he has found it “irritating” to read critiques of the Journal’s coverage of President Trump. He rattled off a string of Journal exclusives and in-depth articles as evidence of the paper’s aggressive coverage, including reporting on the president’s business conflicts and foreign dealings and the recent controversy surrounding Michael Flynn, his national security adviser.

Addressing an internal forum of over 100 newsroom employees—with others listening by phone around the world—Baker also spoke about the state of the business. He said a “very adverse” advertising environment forced 200 job cuts through layoffs and buyouts, but pointed to substantial gains in digital subscriptions. The event came after multiple media reports, citing unnamed news employees, described internal rancor at the Journal over its approach to covering the Trump administration under Baker’s leadership.

AT&T and Time Warner are suiting up for the Great Media Game. Their strategy to win is more about defense than offense. The strongest case for the gargantuan merger is that it is a hedge against a future where the first point of entry for a media consumer might be Netflix, Facebook, YouTube or Hulu, just as easily as a cable or telecom company. AT&T’s $50 billion acquisition of DirecTV tethered the telecom giant to a pay-TV business that has begun to decline and could be in store for serious pain if cord-cutting accelerates.

The good news for AT&T, Comcast, and others is that consumers will still need broadband subscriptions to sign up for their favorite streaming services. Now, with the Time Warner deal, there will be another hedge for AT&T: Any emerging streaming platform will need to license content from the big media conglomerates to survive. Time Warner won’t likely be left out of any aspiring “skinny” online TV bundle from Google, Amazon or Apple, or TV-like platform on social media, be it via Facebook, Snapchat or Twitter. (A side benefit: AT&T will take on Time Warner’s 10% ownership of Hulu alongside Comcast, Walt Disney and 21st Century Fox)

The decline of Nielsen as being the workhorse of ratings it once was is one of the biggest threats facing cable channels. Cable channels had a low-risk but lucrative business model: fill much of the schedule with reruns of shows that were proven hits on broadcast networks -- CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC -- taking a lot of the guesswork out of programming.

But that formula is no longer reliable.

Audiences have fragmented so badly among myriad cable channels and online video outlets that broadcast networks are finding it harder to produce a hit. That means the pool of shows that can guarantee a strong audience in reruns for cable channels has shrunk drastically, driving up prices for what is available -- even when audiences aren't as strong.

Cutting down on reruns by investing more in original programming, meanwhile, can also be costly if those shows don't gain traction. That is why all the big cable networks are hoping for broadcasters to rediscover their mojo.

Further complicating matters for cable networks, viewers now have other ways to watch reruns, including streaming video services and video-on-demand. The serialized dramas that broadcasters are increasingly producing have proved extremely popular on Netflix, viewers often "binge watch," devouring multiple episodes at a time. Shows suited for binge-watching often don't work as well as traditional reruns for cable channels.

Comcast’s proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable has sparked fears across the media industry that the combined giant would have too much influence over everything from cable industry pricing to the broadband-related services consumers can access.

TV network owners worry the merger could give Comcast too much control over TV-viewing data and the broadband market, industry executives say. Small cable operators, meanwhile, fear they could face higher costs as TV networks try to make up the difference from discounts that a larger Comcast would win. Companies with online-video offerings fret that Comcast could charge more aggressively for broadband use.

Regulators will have to weigh such concerns as they consider the $45 billion deal, which brings together the Nos. 1 and 2 cable operators. Comcast and TWC are expected to submit their merger documents to the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission in coming weeks. After that, the FCC will invite comments from the public and competitors. Industry comments could shape any conditions regulators impose on the deal. The government approved Comcast's NBCUniversal acquisition in 2011 with conditions. Already the top executives at satellite-TV providers DirecTV and Dish Network have come out strongly against the deal, citing concerns about the power Comcast will have in the broadband market, where it would have nearly 40% of US subscribers.