AT&T-DirecTV deal will be hot topic as moguls gather in Sun Valley

AT&T's (NYSE: T) bid to merge with DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) is expected to be at the top of the agenda at Allen & Co.'s annual Sun Valley, Idaho, conference, long seen as an off-the-record industry incubator.

While the conference is closed to the media--and therefore what happens there generally stays there--industry watchers figure it's a safe bet that media consolidation moves by AT&T and DirecTV and Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) will be discussed and dissected as the media titans play golf, tennis and listen to presentations. It's also not out of the realm of possibility that there will be some chatter about Sprint (NYSE: S) and T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) and about Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Fiber--especially since Google boss Eric Schmidt will be among the attendees.

"These are the moguls capable of pulling off the megamergers that would reshape the entire media world--should they be in the mood to cut a deal over cocktails or a bike ride," wrote Mike Shields on the WSJ.com blog site.

The event, called "the biggest thing happening in the tech world this week" by Business Insider, has been the birthplace of ideas that led to big things in the industry, such as Comcast's eventual takeover of NBCUniversal.

For more:
- Business Insider has this story
- WSJ.com has this commentary

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