My first reaction to the $73bn bid from 21st Century Fox for Time Warner, which this week settled in for a prolonged fight as Time Warner blocked Fox from mounting a rapid assault on its board of directors, was to ask: what problem is Rupert Murdoch trying to solve?
It is not a paucity of high-quality television. Indeed, the problem is the opposite these days: it is hard to find enough time to watch all of the fine series that pour out of broadcast and cable networks, both subscription and free to air: True Detective, Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black. The Good Wife, The Americans, House of Cards. The list goes on.
Nor are the networks in financial trouble. Competition among cable and satellite operators to gain viewers – and efforts by services such as Netflix to draw them away – has created a production boom. In the US, non-sports cable networks receive $17bn a year in fees from cable and satellite operators; video-on-demand and similar services gain another $7.5bn, growing by 20 per cent in 2013, according to Barclays.