After all the drama the cable industry suffered in the recent year, it's nice to see that satellite TV companies are dropping their dukes and playing nice.

DirecTV (News - Alert) and Dish Network are now working together to sell interactive TV advertising nationally. Once rivals, the two TV providers are now collaborating efforts in this tough economic time to hopefully reach more consumers and, thus, increase overall sales.

The agreement of the two parts comes on the heels of dropped lawsuits in which both parties were accusing the other of false advertising.

So what made the two powerhouses decide to play together nicely now? Money, of course.

By joining forces, the companies will let advertisers buy commercials as long as 15 minutes on dedicated channels on both satellite TV systems. This way, interactive applications on channels will let viewers do more than just watch; they can request brochures and product samples, enter sweepstakes or view photos of products and more.

According to DirecTV's Senior Vice President of advertising sales, Bob Riordan, national advertisers have requested a combination of the two companies for some time.

Now, if the cable companies could all play nice, the whole bunch could get along, and even score some extra contracts in the meantime.