Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal reported this afternoon that AT&T is nearing a $50 billion acquisition of DirecTV.
Rumors have circulated for the past few weeks about the potential massive deal, but now Bloomberg said that the two companies are in “advanced talks,” and are planning a 12-month regulatory process. The Wall Street Journal reported something similar earlier this month, but at a $40 billion valuation.
DirecTV has more than 38 million cable subscribers and posted $7.86 billion in revenue last quarter. The El Segundo, Calif.-based company has numerous other partnerships, including a big one with the NFL.
If the deal goes through, it won’t be the first huge cable TV-related deal in 2014. In February, Comcast acquired Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion.
Shares of DirecTV are up more than 5 percent in after hours trading.
