• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, July 11, 2016

Media moguls are in summer camp right now -- complete with bike riding, hiking, and whitewater rafting at the Allen & Co. Sun Valley, Idaho conference.

Will this mean big ground-breaking media deals to come in the coming months -- or just some scruffy knees and light poison ivy issues?

Media consolidation is always a dual-edged business and consumer sword: Business executives would say companies need to get bigger to be competitive; consumer groups believe bigger isn’t better, leading to too much control in too few hands and higher consumer fees.

Many believe recent big media deals are a sign of things to come.

During the last year we have seen a Lionsgate’s deal to buy pay TV network group Starz, and Comcast Corp. buying up mini-movie/TV studio Dreamworks Animation.

Additionally, there is French communications company Altice buying cable operator Cablevision Systems Corp. and two other big U.S. cable operator merging, with Charter Communications buying Time Warner Cable.

Many now believe the trend will be for Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Apple possibly looking at content deals and considering buying movie studios.

Others dismiss the idea that digital technology companies need to ramp up understanding of premium content creation. Additionally, financials results for content creators always show major ups and downs.

Perhaps a wild card is Netflix, which has been buying, but also creating, much content. Analysts might view Netflix as a hybrid.  Hulu could look to do the same -- if not one-upping Netflix -- now with its plans of starting up a “skinny” digital SVOD service which will package other networks and programming.

Are movie studios really in play? Viacom has talked up Paramount Pictures for a possible big minority interest sale, even as controlling shareholder National Amusements is opposed to it.

But cable legend John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media --- a key mover in the Lionsgate-Starz deal --  still worries about the movie business, noting  “The question is, can you tame the movie business to reduce the volatility?”

If you are asking the question, perhaps you already don’t have the stomach for this. But at a certain price, perhaps fast-growing digital players don’t mind a tasty adventure -- digestion issues aside.