• by Wayne Friedman , November 24, 2014

For the fifth day in a row, Dish Network’s stock continues to climb — mostly due to potential merger talks with telecommunications companies.

On Monday, in midday trading, the stock was up nearly 3% to $75.75. Five days ago the stock opened at around $65.

Despite all the carriage-related headlines — possibly blackouts around CBS, Turner, and Comcast Sports Networks — Dish’s stock has primarily seen gains from a possible merger with telecommunications company T-Mobile. It also has been mentioned in connection with Sprint. Investors see a potential deal as a stronger competitor to the dominant telecom/media companies AT&T and Verizon.

This news is coupled with the government auction of airwaves for use in mobile broadband — perhaps the biggest auction in the Federal Communications Commission’s history.

Reports indicate that companies bid more than $34 billion as of Friday afternoon for six blocks of airwaves — three times the $10.5 billion reserve price that the commission put on the sale. One of these companies has been rumored to be Dish.

Last week, Dish extended its contract talks with CBS and Turner. A possible Comcast Sports Networks blackout could still occur, according to Comcast, around the first of the month.