AT&T has agreed to buy DirecTV in a deal that values the satellite dish TV operator at nearly $50 billion.

According to the Wall Street Journal: 

“Together, the deals show how the biggest companies in television and telecommunications are bulking up to deal with a changing media landscape. Growth is slowing in some markets, like pay TV and wireless subscriptions, and there is explosive growth in others, like streaming video.

They are betting that bigger scale will give them the resources to invest in new capabilities and the leverage to hammer out commercial arrangements in the media world.“

The merger is just the latest major merger in the history of media consolidation: