M&A deal volume among U.S. and Canadian media and telecommunications companies in December 2020 rose 10.1% year over year even though the sector only saw one deal that crossed the billion-dollar mark during the month.

There were 98 deal announcements with disclosed transaction values in December 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, compared to 86 deals announced in November 2020. The sector saw 89 deal announcements in December 2019.

The largest deal of the month was AT&T Inc.'s agreement to sell Warner Media LLC's anime business, Crunchyroll Inc., to Funimation Global Group LLC, a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. and Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.'s subsidiary, Aniplex Inc. The purchase price for the transaction is about $1.18 billion.

Alden Global Capital LLC's offer to buy the remaining stake in Tribune Publishing Co. was the second-largest deal for the month.

Liberty Broadband Corp. Inc.'s agreement to acquire GCI Liberty Inc. in a stock-for-stock merger with a gross transaction value of more than $12 billion remained the largest deal in 2020.