AT&T and DirecTV are said to be talking about a cash and stock deal that could be worth close to $50 billion. It could be signed in the next few weeks, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
But the benefits of this combination, beyond cash flow, were not readily apparent to BTIG media and technology analyst Rich Greenfield. "DirecTV is a fundamentally challenging business long term. You are in an environment where the cable pipe is really evolved. It used to be that DirecTV was the market leader. They were technologically superior," he told CNBC on Tuesday. "That's simply not true anymore."
"If you stop growing subscribers and you just harvest the cash," Greenfield continued in a "Squawk Box" interview, "DirecTV generates a ton of cash. [Even though] it may not be a growth business over the next 10 years."
Read MoreDirecTV working with advisers on possible AT&T merger