• by Wayne Friedman , October 20, 2016

In keeping with its promise to pursue TV-movie content producers, AT&T has been in informal discussions with Time Warner with the possibility of a takeover, according to one report.

A deal could be worth around $65 billion, given the value of Time Warner stock. The company’s market capitalization was about $64.33 billion at of the close of Thursday stock market trading.

On the news of a report from Bloomberg, Time Warner stock gained 4.7% on Thursday’s close to $82.99; AT&T dropped 1.9% to $38.65.

This would follow on AT&T’s massive purchase of DirecTV for $48.5 billion completed this last year.

In 2014, Time Warner rejected a 2014 bid by 21st Century Fox -- a deal worth more than $75 billion, at a Time Warner share buyout price of $85 a share.

Recently, AT&T executives says it would be pursuing more media and entertainment acquisitions -- deals worth anywhere from $2 billion to $50 billion.

Bloomberg says the talks between the two companies were also about business dealings of pay TV distribution and a owner of TV networks -- AT&T’s DirecTV and Time Warner’s networks, such as HBO, TNT, TBS, and others. This included “skinny bundles” deals.

DirecTV Now will soon launch later this year -- a digital discounted pay TV service of linear TV networks.