Time Warner has rejected an $80bn bid from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, setting up a stand-off between two of the biggest names in television and film at a time when content companies have become dwarfed by the cable and satellite groups that carry their programming.

Mr Murdoch has pulled off many audacious deals over the last half century, but the media mogul saved his biggest bid until well into his ninth decade. The cash and stock offer, worth about $86 a share based on Tuesday’s closing price, would add HBO, Turner and Warner Bros to his empire and unite media brands from Batman to Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.

The offer was made in early June at a private lunch in Time Warner’s Manhattan headquarters attended by Chase Carey, Mr Murdoch’s top lieutenant, and Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s chairman and chief executive.