AT&T Could Probably Buy DirecTV. But Why?

[Commentary] Comcast and Time Warner Cable? Doable, but rough. Sprint and T-Mobile? Really rough. But if AT&T wants to buy DirecTV, it has decent odds of getting it done.

At least from the regulators’ perspective. So let’s say regulators say the deal is OK with them. What does it do for AT&T? That one is harder to parse. It’s hard to argue, as Comcast and Time Warner Cable can, that the two companies can find operational efficiencies -- since maintaining telecommunications/broadband pipes and operating satellite TV networks are two distinct things.

The most obvious answer is that combining the two companies will give them more power when it comes to negotiating licensing deals with TV programmers. But that’s only relevant if AT&T decides or is allowed to keep its pay TV subscribers. And even then, the combined company may not be able to do much more than it was doing as two separate companies. Analyst Craig Moffett estimates that AT&T might eventually end up saving $400 million a year in programming costs.