News of dropping profits for TV-less WindStream Corp. (WIN) and interest in mergers amid video-driven gains for numerous other service providers raises the question for midsize telcos: Is there really life for carriers without their own TV offering? Looks like the answer is no.

Windstream resells satellite TV and has a deal in place to resell TiVo Inc. (TIVO) The company also has high-speed Internet from which the TiVo programming is delivered. But it doesn’t have telco TV.

The list of operators reporting video-driven gains for the second quarter includes AT&T Inc. (T), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and more. They’re either very large or relatively small operators.

WindStream is neither very large nor very small. Nor, sadly, is it on that list. It’s too “large” to qualify for government funds under the USDA’s RUS program. It’s too small to do its own.

Triple play providers report TV helps sell broadband. AT&T claims that 85% of U-verse TV customers take U-verse Internet too. WindStream has the Internet, but not its own wireline telco TV. And it recently sold its wireless assets to AT&T.

So, with profits down millions and the company looking at mergers, what’s a tweener, telco TV-less operator to do?

I wish I had some easier answers, but the only thing that comes to mind is signing up for managed and/or turnkey IPTV services from the likes of SES-Americom Inc. and others who have targeted the rural telco and ILEC markets.

Wasn’t that the grand plan of such package providers who started talking about their innovative, avoid-time and capex plans more than four years ago? While many less than large telcos already offer a landline TV service, many more, such as Windstream, seem to need one.

It may be too late for WindStream. But if the telco merges with another, I’ll bet it has its own TV service.

Stay tuned.

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