The Association of National Advertisers will acquire the Data & Marketing Association (formerly the Direct Marketing Association), forming a coalitionthat, thanks to other recent mergers within both organizations, will create a powerhouse lobbying organization with deep interests in privacy and data security as well as advertising taxes and other media issues.  

The merger expected to be completed by July 1. Financial details were not disclosed, although published reports suggested a "fire sale" price as DMA has seen declining revenue and membership in recent years.  

One topic that is not on the merged group's agenda right now is net neutrality. Although some ANA members have questioned the FCC's rollback of net neutrality rules, neither ANA nor DMA "has taken a stance on net neutrality," Daniel Jaffe, group executive vice president for government relations at ANA's Washington office, told Multichannel News. ANA's members include Comcast Cable, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, AT&T, Verizon, the National Football League, Time Warner and many other media and telecommunications organizations. DMA's members include Google, Facebook and Twitter. eBay is among the companies that are members of both organizations.