Chairman of Disney Bob Iger arrives for the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 06, 2021 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images

New year prediction pieces are a journalism standard. But instead of giving my own projections, I asked 10 media executives, with the promise of anonymity, to give me their best guesses on what's going to happen in 2022. The rules were simple: The prediction could be anything related to the media and entertainment business, but it had to be significant and couldn't be obvious. Here's what they told me. I'll revisit the predictions at this time next year to see how they turned out, and then poll 10 new executives for their 2023 predictions.

Executive No.1: Roku buys Lionsgate's studio

Executive No. 2: Bob Iger returns to Disney as CEO

It hasn't even been two years since Bob Chapek took over as Disney's CEO. But one executive told CNBC there are already internal wagers at Disney about Iger returning. Iger, 70, repeatedly extended his contract after planning to retire in 2015, 2016 and 2018 before abruptly stepping down in 2020. He's still Disney's executive chairman until the end of the year. It's unclear if Iger wants to return. He's already working on a second book, according to The Hollywood Reporter, after publishing one in 2019. But Disney shares have stumbled this year, down nearly 20% year to date. Iger owns a lot of those shares. The board and Iger may get restless if Disney+ growth stagnates and the company continues to have turf tensions between executives.

Executives No. 3 and 4: ViacomCBS will merge or sell

Two votes for this one. "I love Shari [Redstone], but ViacomCBS is not long for this world as it stands today," said one of two media executives who predicted 2022 will be the year ViacomCBS ceases to exist as an independent company. Comcast has already held preliminary talks with Redstone, the controlling shareholder and nonexecutive chair of the company, earlier this year to discuss a variety of ways to work together. A merger of NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS would be messy from a regulatory standpoint, likely requiring a divestiture of either NBC or CBS and their associated local affiliates. Over the past two years, Redstone has internally contemplated other alternatives, such as buying Lionsgate's Starz and merging with Sony Pictures Entertainment, according to people familiar with the matter. A deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, if that merger closes, makes sense. But so far, ViacomCBS's messaging to Wall Street has been that it's content to move forward as is.

Shari Redstone, president of National Amusements and Vice Chairman, CBS and Viacom, speaks at the WSJTECH live conference in Laguna Beach, California, October 21, 2019. Mike Blake | Reuters

Executive No. 5: The 'free radicals' will sell

Executive No. 6: Vice will sell itself in pieces

Shane Smith, co-founder of Vice. CNBC

Vice raised money at a $5.7 billion valuation in 2017. This executive said he believes Vice wouldn't be able to get $1 billion in a full sale of the company given its debt obligations and unclear exit strategy for existing investors. That may lead the company to sell itself in pieces rather than search for a buyer of the entire company.

Executive No. 7: Vox Media will go public

Vox's choice to merge with Group Nine sets itself as the next logical digital media candidate to go public after BuzzFeed. It just so happens that Group Nine has already established a SPAC that could be used by the company to go public, in conjunction with merging with another digital media player to gain more scale. If SPACs remain tainted from an investment perspective, this executive said Vox could also pursue a standard IPO. The timing could be similar to BuzzFeed's this year — an announcement of an IPO in late June and a public launch at the end of 2022, the executive said.

Executive No. 8: A major sports betting company will go bankrupt or sell for 'peanuts'

Executive No. 9: Apple will buy a movie/TV studio

Apple's streaming video ambitions have been muted, given the company's enormous size. "Ted Lasso" is a hit for Apple TV+, but the service has operated largely on the periphery of the streaming wars. That's likely to change, said this executive, in 2022, and it will be driven by the acquisition of a content studio. A fresh team of people who can create hit shows won't just make Apple a more serious player churning out original content. It will also give Apple a library of TV shows and movies it can offer to customers. That's something Apple doesn't own yet, but it's probably essential to serious long-term streaming ambitions.

Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ Source: Apple Inc.

Still, Apple has a very limited track record with mergers and acquisitions, so any prediction of an Apple acquisition of significance is more often wrong than right.

Executive No. 10: Free advertising-supported streaming services will consolidate