The latest undulation: The floating of a possible purchase of satellite provider DirecTV by telecom giant AT&T.
Among other moves or speculation since Comcast announced its $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable two months ago: DirecTV and competitor Dish Network have talked about merging, according to a Bloomberg report; Netflix announced connection deals with Verizon and Comcast; and Apple had reportedly approached Comcast, too.
Not to be forgotten: Sprint's expected attempt to buy T-Mobile, and TV upstart Aereo's challenge to broadcasters is under review by the Supreme Court.
A common thread to all of these: "A trend to get bigger and amass more market share and be in a better position to dictate terms," says Phil Swann of TVPredictions.com.
All the speculation suggests that behind the scenes, the biggest pay-TV players are making preparations for a transformed marketplace should the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal be approved. "The writing is on the wall that these kinds of partnerships have to get made," says Digital World Research analyst P.J. McNealy.
Amid these tectonic shifts, companies need to absorb more subscribers across more delivery methods to attract advertising and increase bargaining power when it comes to licensing content, McNealy says. He foresees a wave of mergers that lead to mega-media companies.
AT&T's bid to augment its current "video footprint" of about 6 million customers for its U-Verse fiber-optic delivered pay-TV service with DirecTV's 13 million reflects the "early stages of industry consolidation and technology transition and a response to the demand for more video," says Michael Paxton, cable industry analyst for SNL Kagan.
Whether it actually happens remains to be seen. DirecTV likely leaked the AT&T overture to put regulators "on notice (that) if you approve Comcast, we'll be next in line," Swann sa! ys. "The FCC has to ask if they want to open what could be a Pandora's box."
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