We've seen rumors floated for years that AT&T would someday buy satellite operator Echostar, but the folks at The Street insist that acquisition talks are heating up. Citing "people familiar with the companies" (code for anybody), the website insists that AT&T is offering a buyout at $55 a share, though EchoStar is holding out for $65 a share.

Echostar's Dish Network is already AT&T's partner on a DSL/DBS hybrid DVR service dubbed Homezone. Homezone is aimed at customers outside the deployment range of their U-Verse VDSL IPTV service (of which there will be quite a few). AT&T also resells satellite broadband service from Wild Blue.

Echostar on Tuesday announced that they'd be buying Sling Media in a $380 million deal. They also announced they'd be splitting themselves into two publicly traded companies, with one focused on Echostar's wholesale and international operations, and the other focused on consumer TV and broadband services.

It's that latter move that poured gas on the long smoldering AT&T acquisition rumor among Wall Street analysts, but it's not clear yet if any of the acquisition rumors are actually coming from either AT&T or Echostar. AT&T CFO Richard Lindner last year dismissed the rumors, saying additional acquisitions weren't necessary, but direct ownership of a satellite operator could help them fill in the U-Verse gaps.

The rumors certainly helped Echostar's stock, which rose 7% on The Street's report.