DirecTV And Dish To Merge, Creating Pay-TV Giant
deadline.comDirecTV is acquiring satellite rival Dish Network, creating by far the largest pay-TV operator. The two satellite companies, which have struggled in recent years due to cord-cutting and their inability to offer broadband services in the streaming era, have discussed coming together several times over the years.
DirecTV said the deal, which is structured as a debt exchange transaction, will save $1 billion in costs each year. Dish merged last January with EchoStar, its corporate cousin in the wireless business.
Regulators will now review the transaction. In the past, they have scuttled attempts to bring together the two satellite firms, but today’s pay-TV landscape is far more fragmented, as millions of customers cut the cord each year.
Even so, the resulting entity would control more than one-quarter of the U.S. pay-TV market, with nearly 20 million subscribers.
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