Mergers and acquisitions in the media space saw explosive growth during the second quarter, according to a new report from PwC released Wednesday. Time Warner Cable’s (TWC) merger with Charter Communications’ (CHTR), worth $56 billion, and Verizon’s (VZ) $4.4 billion acquisition of AOL (AOL) helped fuel the $76 billion in total deal activity in the media space for the second quarter, PwC says. Deal activity during first quarter totaled $39 billion. ‘You saw that big pickup primarily because of that one megadeal, the Charter and Time Warner Cable deal,’ said Bart Spiegel, a partner with PwC’s entertainment, media & communications division, and one of the authors of Wednesday’s report. ‘If we were having this discussion two years ago, megadeals weren’t as common in the sector – and now we’re seeing these billion-dollar plus deals more frequently.’ Within the media space, content was king during second quarter. ‘When you look at content deals, all these companies out there that are trying to acquire as much content as possible so they can monetize it across very different geographies and distribution platforms,’ Spiegel added. Meanwhile, the environment for corporate mergers is favorable, with record low interest rates. TheStreet’s Scott Gamm reports from New York.
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