Given the task definition and input, reply with output. In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.

After its acquisition of satellite television service DirecTV, telephone giant AT&T Inc. might be setting its sights on an even bigger prize, Time Warner Inc. 
  
 Bloomberg News reported Thursday afternoon that AT&T and Time Warner executives have engaged in preliminary talks about a potential merger or other partnerships. 
  
 Time Warner shares jumped on news of the talks, closing up $3.75, or 4.7%, to $82.99. The New York media company owns HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, TBS and Hollywood’s largest film and TV studio, Warner Bros. 
  
 Representatives of AT&T and Time Warner declined to comment. 
  
 Such a combination would transform AT&T, based in Dallas, into a communications and entertainment colossus with multiple distribution outlets — including one of the nation’s largest mobile phone networks — and some of the most prestigious television channels in the business. Warner Bros. also has a rich library of characters, including DC Comics and such cartoon characters as Scooby-Doo and the Looney Tunes zoo, including Bugs Bunny and Sylvester the Cat. 
  
 In some ways, AT&T-Time Warner would resemble cable giant Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal — but AT&T would be even bigger with its mobile phone operations. AT&T already operates the nation’s largest pay-TV service with more than 25 million customers. 
  
 Like other telecommunications companies, AT&T has been eager to expand into the entertainment business as its mobile phone market matures. Owning content has become more valuable as more consumers, especially younger ones, watch entertainment on their phones. 
  
 AT&T completed its $49-billion acquisition of DirecTV, based in El Segundo, in July 2015. Later this year the company plans to roll out a streaming service of TV channels to compete with traditional TV operators. 
  
 AT&T has been working with an executive with considerable chops in Hollywood, former News Corp. President Peter Chernin, who now runs his own entertainment company. He and AT&T have partnered on several ventures, including Otter Media, suggesting that Chernin might play a role in the talks with Time Warner. 
  
 Such a massive merger, however, would probably trigger significant antitrust concerns. It would come during a changing of the guard in Washington and it’s unclear whether regulators within a Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton administration would consent to such a dramatic consolidation. 
  
 The discussions come two years after Time Warner warded off a hostile takeover bid from Rupert Murdoch and his sons at 21st Century Fox. That deal valued Time Warner at more than $75 billion, but it collapsed amid resistance from Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Bewkes and Time Warner’s board. In addition, Fox investors got nervous about the acquisition, sending its shares down. 
  
 Time Warner is currently valued at $65 billion. AT&T’s market capitalization is $238 billion. 
  
 Time Warner, in recent years, has accelerated its push into digital media, launching HBO Now nearly 18 months ago. This summer, Time Warner took a 10% stake in the streaming service Hulu, which is owned by NBCUniversal, 21st Century Fox and Walt Disney. 
  
 AT&T shares closed down 73 cents, or 1.8%, to $38.65 in Thursday trading. 
  
 See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour » 
  
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 meg.james@latimes.com 
  
 @MegJamesLAT 
  
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 UPDATES: 
  
 3:30 p.m. This article was updated with additional information about AT&T’s business ventures. 
  
 This article was first published at 2:35 p.m. ||||| (Reuters) - Senior executives of telecommunications company AT&T; Inc (T.N) and media conglomerate Time Warner Inc TWX.N have discussed various business strategies including a possible merger in recent weeks, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people it said were familiar with the matter. 
  
 An AT&T; Logo is pictured on the side of a building in Pasadena, California, January 26, 2015. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni 
  
 A deal would be one of the largest in recent years in the sector as telecom companies make a land grab for media firms in order to get hold of valuable content. 
  
 Time Warner shares jumped 4.7 percent in regular trading and slightly extended gains after hours. AT&T; shares slipped 1.8 percent. 
  
 Neither side has yet hired a financial adviser, Bloomberg said. (bloom.bg/2enqBF9) 
  
 AT&T; and Time Warner declined to comment. 
  
 Time Warner is attractive because of its premium cable channel HBO, the CNN news network, film studio Warner Bros and other media assets. 
  
 AT&T;, which sells wireless phone and broadband services, may be looking to emulate cable company Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O), which acquired NBCUniversal and DreamWorks Animation in a bid to become a massive force that controls how television shows and movies are made and how they are delivered to viewers. 
  
 Owning more content gives cable and telecom companies more leverage as customers demand smaller, hand-picked cable offerings or are cutting the cord altogether and watching online. 
  
 AT&T; has already made moves to turn itself into a media powerhouse, buying satellite TV provider DIRECTV last year for $48.5 billion. 
  
 Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes has not been willing to sell in the past. The company rejected an $80 billion offer from Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOXA.O) in 2014. 
  
 While Bewkes, 64, was not open to a deal two years ago, the pace of consolidation in the media sector may urge him to reconsider, especially as two competitors, Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) and CBS Corp (CBS.N) have been exploring a potential merger at the request of controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone. 
  
 Talk of a deal comes as another potential bidder, Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N), is busy with its purchase of internet company Yahoo Inc YHOO.O, which has been set back by news of a massive hacking breach into Yahoo customers’ email accounts. 
  
 Time Warner has a market value of about $65 billion. AT&T; has a market value of about $238 billion. 
  
 Any merger of that size in a sensitive market would get a close look from regulators, analysts said, but that would not necessarily derail a deal. 
  
 “Whoever the next president’s pick for the Federal Communications Commission is will have a significant say,” said Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner. 
  
 Entner said Comcast’s purchase of NBCUniversal set a precedent and there is “a strong argument to say the FCC should approve” a deal between AT&T; and Time Warner. ||||| LISTEN TO ARTICLE 3:43 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email 
  
 Senior executives at AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Inc. have met in recent weeks to discuss various business strategies including a possible merger, according to people familiar with the matter. 
  
 The talks, which at this stage are informal, have focused on building relations between the companies rather than establishing the terms of a specific transaction, the people said, asking not to be identified as the deliberations are private. Neither side has yet hired a financial adviser, the people said. 
  
 Acquiring Time Warner would give AT&T, one of the biggest providers of pay-TV and of wireless and home internet service in the U.S., a collection of popular programming to offer to subscribers, from HBO to NBA basketball to the Cartoon Network. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has been looking to add more content and original programming as part of his plan to transform the Dallas-based telecommunications company into a media and entertainment giant. 
  
 “There’s a lot that’s attractive about Time Warner,” media industry veteran Peter Chernin, who runs an online video joint venture with AT&T, said in an interview Thursday on CNBC. “I think they’re both great companies.” He said he didn’t know anything about a deal. 
  
 Time Warner Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes is a willing seller if he gets an offer he thinks is fair, said one of the people. Bewkes and his board rejected an $85-a-share approach in 2014 from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc., which valued Time Warner at more than $75 billion. 
  
 For a Gadfly take on AT&T’s media ambitions, click here 
  
 Time Warner rose 4.7 percent to $82.99, valuing the company at about $64.5 billion. AT&T fell 1.9 percent to $38.65. 
  
 Representatives for AT&T and Time Warner declined to comment. 
  
 Telecom Powerhouse 
  
 Time Warner shares had gained about 23 percent this year through Wednesday, boosted by sales gains at both its HBO premium channel and Turner cable-TV unit. AT&T is up 12 percent in 2016, valuing the Dallas-based company at about $238 billion. 
  
 AT&T has transformed itself over the last decade from a regional phone company to a national telecommunications powerhouse. Its plan to focus on media and entertainment targets include companies worth $2 billion to $50 billion, people familiar with the plans said earlier this month. 
  
 Last year, AT&T paid $48.5 billion to acquire satellite-TV provider DirecTV, its biggest deal in at least 10 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. AT&T has been developing an internet-based version of the pay-TV service, called DirecTV Now. 
  
 “With the pending launch of the DirecTV Now OTT app, it might make sense to move onto content ownership, but Time-Warner is an awfully big first step into the content world,” said John Butler, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, in an e-mail. 
  
 The results are mixed with blockbuster deals that bring outsiders into the media industry. Comcast Corp. has had a largely successful run since acquiring control of NBCUniversal in 2009. But Time Warner itself had one of the most disastrous mergers of all time when it combined with America Online Inc. in 2000. 
  
 With $7.2 billion of cash on hand, AT&T doesn’t have enough firepower to make a big deal with cash alone. In the wake of the DirecTV purchase and the $18 billion it spent in the federal airwave auction last year, AT&T’s net debt was $120 billion at the end of June. 
  
 Moody’s Investors Service calculates the company’s adjusted leverage at 3.1 times earnings and says the company’s rating, three levels above junk, could be downgraded if it doesn’t stay on track to fall below 3 times. 
  
 — With assistance by Lucas Shaw, Gerry Smith, and Scott Moritz |||||

A new communications behemoth may be emerging soon: Insiders tell Bloomberg that over the last few weeks, senior execs from AT&T and Time Warner have been discussing strategies including a possible merger. Reuters notes that telecom companies like AT&T have been making a "land grab" for media companies in recent years, and a merger would give AT&T assets including HBO, CNN, and Warner Bros. studios. The Los Angeles Times reports that Time Warner is valued at $65 billion and AT&T at $238 billion. A merger of the two would create an entity big enough to create major antitrust concerns, and it's not clear whether a Clinton or Trump administration would allow the deal. Time Warner shares jumped 4.7% after merger rumors surfaced Thursday, while AT&T shares fell 1.8%. (Verizon's deal to buy Yahoo has run into difficulties.)