Ted Sarandos and Casey Bloys breaking bread together sounds like the setup for a very expensive joke. The Netflix co-CEO and the HBO content chief were spotted lunching in Los Angeles this week, according to Page Six, and naturally the industry is speculating about what two of television's most powerful executives might have been discussing.

The obvious answer? Probably nothing. High-level executives in Hollywood have lunch all the time. They talk shop, they network, they maintain relationships. It's entirely possible Sarandos and Bloys spent two hours discussing their kids, their golf games, and whether LA restaurants have gotten unreasonably expensive.

But let's indulge in some speculation anyway, because the timing is interesting.

The streaming wars, after years of scorched-earth competition, are entering a new phase. Consolidation is the word of the day. Warner Bros. Discovery - HBO's parent company - has been making noise about potential partnerships and licensing deals. Netflix, meanwhile, has been selectively licensing content from competitors when it makes financial sense.

Could we see HBO originals streaming on Netflix? It sounds insane until you remember that HBO content was on Netflix before the streaming wars began in earnest. And with everyone focused on profitability over subscriber growth these days, strange bedfellows are becoming common.

Or perhaps they're discussing co-productions - pooling resources for expensive projects that neither wants to fully finance alone. We've seen this model work in international markets. Could it come to premium English-language content?

Then again, they might have been discussing something more mundane: talent deals, awards campaign strategy, or how to collectively lobby regulators who keep making threatening noises about breaking up big streaming companies.