When Time Warner decided in 2008 to spin off Time Warner Cable, Martin said, the role that user information would play in everything from selling advertising to retaining customers wasn't apparent. Leaving aside the fact that Time Warner Cable only covered 20% of the country, AT&T owns a national pay-TV service, DirecTV; a multichannel streaming platform, DirecTV Now; and a mobile provider, AT&T Wireless. (Charter earlier this year swallowed Time Warner Cable after Comcast was forced to abandon its pursuit.)