Why AT&T stock was a market winner today

The broader stock market may not have had a thrilling Monday, but there was plenty of action and interest in AT&T (T 2.91%) actions. The telco has been the subject of hot speculation in the satellite broadcast world, with investors bidding its share price down nearly 3%. This was more than enough to crush S&P 500 index performance as the indicator closed only marginally higher.

An old fusion idea revived?

After market hours on Friday, Bloomberg reported that AT&T and its business partner TPG are in talks to merge their DirecTV satellite unit with Dish, currently owned by EchoStar. Citing unnamed “people familiar with the matter”, the financial news agency added that talks are currently at an early stage.

Bloomberg said unnamed spokespeople for both DirecTV and Bloomberg declined to comment. Representatives for TPG and EchoStar also declined similar requests.

DirecTV and Dish are the two largest satellite television providers in this country. A merger would create a business with about 20 million customers, according to Bloomberg.

This is not the first time a link between the two satellite entities has been floated. In 2002, the pair attempted a merger, but the US Department of Justice struck it down on antitrust grounds.

It’s a streaming world these days

These are not halcyon days for the satellite TV industry, as it has been largely overshadowed by streaming video. Subscription plans in the highly competitive streaming space can be very cheap compared to traditional pay TV offerings like satellite; perhaps a marriage between DirecTV and Dish would lead to synergies that could lower costs (and lower those subscription rates).