In one embodiment, a spatial merge mode or a temporal merge mode for a block of video content may be used in merging motion parameters. Both spatial and temporal merge parameters are considered concurrently and do not require utilization of bits or flags or indexing to signal a decoder. If the spatial merge mode is determined, the method merges the block of video content with a spatially-located block, where merging shares motion parameters between the spatially-located block and the block of video content. If the temporal merge mode is determined, the method merges the block of video content with a temporally-located block, where merging shares motion parameters between the temporally-located block and the block of video content.