• by Wayne Friedman , May 15, 2015

Merger-and-acquisition deals among communications-media-entertainment companies dropped to their lowest level in two years.

The first quarter witnessed 198 deals -- due to lower communications and publishing deals, according to PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers). In the first quarter of a year ago, there were 225 deals, and 210 deals in the fourth-quarter 2014.

Overall, dollar value was more than doubled to $39 billion from $16 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014, but down from  approximately $80 billion in value from the first quarter of 2014.

Two major deals announced for the first three months of this year include: Charter’s announced deal for cable operator Bright House Networks for $10.8 billion and Verizon deal for Wireline Operations for $10.5 billion.

There were 60 advertising/marketing deals versus 53 in the fourth-quarter 2014. Total dollar volume in the first quarter of 2015 was much less than the same period in 2014: $100 million versus $7.5 billion.

Internet deals rose to 43 versus 38 in the last three months of 2014. Deal dollar volume was up a bit to $2.4 billion from $2.2 billion. A major prospective deal in this category: Expedia’s acquisition of Orbitz.

After advertising and Internet, publishing was the third-busiest category: 32 deals versus 45 in fourth-quarter 2014. Dollar volume was $750 million against $732 million.