Wow.. the idea of an independent media, of separating the mediums must've really gone down the shitter.
Socio-economic conditions must've been that mergers would have to be popular for two such big, yet disparate companies to merge like that. Possibly greater economic integration? Like how Disney tried (and failed spectacularly) to collaborate with McDonalds to get McDonalds to sell Disney-based merchandise, in the early 1990s.