Acquisitions in the U.S. entertainment, media and communications sector grew in the second quarter with deal value reaching $76 billion, compared to $39 billion in the first quarter of 2015, according to a quarterly report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Much of the deals were driven by the cable TV industry's transformation, according to PwC. In particular, two megadeals including Charter Communications' (NASDAQ: CHTR) proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) valued at $55.6 billion, which would give it access to 23.9 million customers; and Liberty Broadband Corp.'s $4.3 billion investment in Charter, which is contingent upon the completion of the Charter/Time Warner deal.
Meanwhile, overall second quarter 2015 deal volume, which declined in the first quarter, recovered some lost ground in the second quarter with 208 M&A deals across the advertising & marketing, publishing and Internet & information subsectors. PwC expects M&A activity in these areas to remain robust in third quarter as well. Report