It’s always nice when two lonely corporations find each other. DirecTV Agrees to Buy Dish Network . This would create a global behemoth in the satellite TV space.
It would also provide some financial armor for the struggling Dish Network. The company has billions of dollars in debt because satellite TV is no longer a booming industry. Flow, baby, flow. All told, Dish has $2 billion in debt due in November and only $500 million in cash. This math doesn’t add up .
The specifics of the contract are quite complex. This is a multi-step operation with several players. First, private equity firm TPG will buy a majority stake in DirectTV from AT&T for $7.6 billion. After that, DirecTV will buy Dish Network for just one dollar. However, it will also take on $2 billion in debt. EchoStar, Dish’s parent company, will own parts of the business as part of the transaction, including more than $30 billion in wireless spectrum investments. DirecTV will acquire video service Sling TV as part of the deal.
The acquisition will create a major pay-TV provider with a total of about 19 million subscribers. As a counterpoint, cable TV leader Comcast . Netflix is crawling fast to show the stark contrast between pay TV and streaming.
The companies say they expect the deal to close in the second half of 2025, although everything is subject to regulatory approval. The Justice Department has rejected a similar merger but at that time the satellite television industry was at its peak.
The federal government recently turned a blind eye to a potential merger arguing that it would deprive rural customers of a viable alternative to Dish and DirecTV when they want 5G wireless service.
