David Gura

For years now, newspapers and magazines have been dealing with a decline in advertising, including a drop in political advertising. There is an exception to that, however. Candidates still see value in periodicals that serve specific communities, including Spanish speakers and African-Americans.

That makes these newspapers popular with local candidates, and no-brainers for national candidates who get a lot of bang for their buck.

Federal regulators that are already busy sorting out a different telecommunications merger: Comcast’s bid to buy Time Warner Cable. “Big fish are swallowing small fish,” says Reed Hundt, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, of the changing media landscape. “And if you want to avoid being swallowed, you need to be a bigger and bigger fish.” AT&T, which is primarily a wireless provider, wants to diversify -- to be able to sell customers phone service, Internet access, and television. And its advantage in selling regulators on the deal? Its size. "In terms of the pay TV business," says Todd Rethemeier of Hudson Square, "AT&T is a relatively small player."