Falling subscriber numbers have led AT&T to consider the sale of its DirecTV unit.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the telco has been mulling a number of options that also include a merger with satellite rival Dish Network and the spin-off of DirecTV into a separate company.
AT&T only acquired DirecTV in 2015 for $49 billion.
It has come into focus now after activist investor Elliott Management revealed last week it had a $3.2 billion stake in AT&T. Elliott is pressing fellow investors to offload the company.
In May, Multichannel Index reported a subscriber loss of 627,000 including 544,000 to its traditional video service. Over the same period, Dish lost 266,000 satellite subscribers.
However, despite the subscriber losses, DirecTV still contributes a healthy cashflow to its parent company.
In December 2018 it was reported DirecTV planned to move away from satellites and concentrate on its OTT service DirecTV Now.