It was the decade that altered the very definition of "TV" — Noun: Netflix. Verb: to stream. The industry's struggle to adapt to the new terminology sparked a merger mania that has rapidly condensed the market for entertainment content and pay-TV services into the hands of a powerful few. Here's a look at what the rise of Netflix Inc., the intrusiveness of big tech and a decade of dealmaking did to the media and entertainment landscape.
As viewers decided they didn't need so many channels, the industry decided it didn't need so many companies. Once-powerful corporations such as 21st Century Fox and Time Warner Cable were acquired by rivals better equipped to navigate the new age of streaming.
Fox's studios joining the Walt Disney Co. family probably came as the biggest shock, but Disney's more meaningful acquisitions were of the Marvel and "Star Wars" franchises, giving it near-total domination of the big screen.