AT&T And DirecTV Meeting Up For Coffee To See If There Is A Merger Spark There

This reminds us of something...

This reminds us of something…

After liking each other’s profile photos on OKtelecupid.com, a corporate dating site we just made up, AT&T and DirecTV are taking the all-important next step of meeting up for coffee and chat (along with regular bathroom breaks to text their bankers with updates) to see if wedded bliss is in their future.

This Bloomberg report effectively confirms earlier news that AT&T is looking at DirecTV as a way to bolster its pay-TV business with some 20 million satellite subscribers, while DirecTV would be better able to compete with terrestrial cable and broadband providers by possibly bundling AT&T phone and Internet products.

According to Bloomberg, DirecTV is working with Goldman Sachs to figure out whether it should give itself body, soul and dish, to AT&T.

But financial matters can almost always be resolved. The real impediment to such a deal involves getting the approval of the chaperones.

The questions surrounding a possible AT&T/DirecTV deal are not exactly the same as those facing the currently pending Comcast/Time Warner Cable, as it would not involve any consolidation in the broadband market. It would still bring up questions of competition in the satellite market, where there are really only two national players in the U.S.

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