Time Warner Vs. Fox

Time Warner was formed in 1990 after the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications. The merger brought under one company Time Magazine, Warner Bros., DC Comics, HBO, CNN and many other subsidiaries and offshoots. Today, it is the second-largest media company behind Disney. Time Warner had an 84 percent stake in Time Warner Cable until 2009, when the cable giant was spun out to shareholders.

The current incarnation of the Fox Entertainment Group has been owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation since 2005. 20th Century Fox, Fox News, Fox Broadcasting, FX, Fox Sports and many other subsidiary networks are considered part of the larger Entertainment Group. Fox does not own a specific cable company, but the corporation's large presence on television has made it a major player in content.

Warner and Fox have been rivals in the film industry for decades, often releasing films in direct competition with each other for both box office clout and award consideration. With the rise in popularity of films based on comic books, the two have again come into direct competition. Fox has produced movies based on Marvel Comics properties, and Warner has made films based on DC Comics. They most recently have gone head to head with 2011's X-Men: First Class and Green Lantern, and the former has received critical acclaim.

CNN became a trendsetter when Ted Turner introduced it in 1980, setting the stage for other networks to create their own 24-hour news networks. The network merged with Time Warner after the Turner Broadcasting System became a part of Time Warner in 1996. In the same year, the Fox News Channel debuted, soon becoming the leading news network with its conservative viewpoint. As the two have competed, numerous anchors have left CNN to join Fox.

In 2009, all of the networks under the Fox Broadcasting Company were under threat of being removed from Time Warner Cable's slate of available television stations due to a dispute over retransmission rights. The threatened removal would have meant viewers would be unable to watch the coming college football Bowl season, the NFL on Fox, or new episodes of American Idol. A deal was reached on January 1, 2010, avoiding any sort of blackout.