AT&T COO John Stankey told the Wall Street Journal the company has no plans to sell DirecTV, essentially denying a report that the paper put out last week holding that a sale of the unit was among the possible options being weighed.

Stankey said DirecTV is too valuable to AT&T, as it will play an important role in the company's streaming strategy and as a key cog for an advanced advertising business that is increasingly dependent on viewership data and targeting. The streaming piece will include AT&T's forthcoming HBO Max SVoD service, which will be sold as a standalone service and also rely on distribution through pay-TV providers such as -- AT&T's own DirecTV unit.

The WSJ reported last week that AT&T was "exploring" ways to unload DirecTV, including a possible spin-off or a sale/merger with a company such as Dish Network. The report also said AT&T might ultimately hold onto DirecTV, which still generates heaps of cash (which could help AT&T shrink its debt) despite weathering steep pay-TV subscriber losses in recent quarters. That report came soon after activist shareholder Elliott Management issued a letter to the AT&T board urging it to overhaul its front-office management and to take a look at divesting the struggling DirecTV unit it acquired four years ago for $49 billion.

It's also possible that AT&T flirted with the idea of selling DirecTV as part of a review, but ultimately decided that's the wrong direction. "We're constantly looking at the portfolio," he told the WSJ. "That's the normal course of business and its not unique to DirecTV."

Amid last week's report about the possibility that AT&T might pursue a sale of DirecTV, naysayers were quick to point out that a marriage with Dish Network, which could benefit from the cash generated from such a deal to help fund its mobile ambitions, would have a tough time getting past US regulators.

Stankey, viewed as a possible successor to company CEO Randall Stephenson, told the paper that he's not currently searching for his successor at AT&T's WarnerMedia division and that he has no intention of leaving his CEO post at the media giant. NBC News reported today that Jeff Zucker, the president of CNN and a former NBCU exec, is an internal candidate to take over for Stankey, citing five unnamed but "high-level WarnerMedia sources."

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— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading