DirecTV Agrees To Buy Dish For $1

DirecTV announced Monday that it is buying rival Dish Network, concluding decades of on-and-off talks about the satellite services merging.

Under the deal, DirecTV will pay Dish’s owner, EchoStar, just $1 for Dish in exchange for assuming its billions of dollars in debt. I Photo: Poster Boy Flickr

Both companies have struggled to retain subscribers in the streaming era, Jordan Valinsky, Ramishah Maruf, and Liam Reilly reported for CNN.

As platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video have gained popularity, attracting millions of subscribers with lower prices and on-demand content, DirecTV and Dish have found it increasingly difficult to justify rising subscription costs, worsening the trend of cord-cutting.

The companies said, "the combination of DirecTV and Dish will benefit U.S. video consumers by creating a more robust competitive force in a video industry dominated by streaming services owned by large tech companies and programmers."

Under the deal, DirecTV will pay Dish’s owner, EchoStar, just $1 for Dish in exchange for assuming its billions of dollars in debt.

Private equity firm TPG will acquire AT&T’s remaining 70% stake in DirecTV. This move comes nine years after AT&T purchased the company in 2015, only to sell a 30% stake to TPG in 2021, a DirecTV spokesperson told CNN.

The deal still hinges on Dish bondholders agreeing to net debt lower than $1.56 billion.

A DirecTV spokesperson said the company will look to secure this in the coming weeks. Bondholders can accept a lower percentage, take a slightly higher percentage today, or wait it out—risking Dish ending up in bankruptcy.

The companies said, "the combination of DirecTV and Dish will benefit U.S. video consumers by creating a more robust competitive force in a video industry dominated by streaming services owned by large tech companies and programmers."

Under the deal, DirecTV will pay Dish’s owner, EchoStar, just $1 for Dish in exchange for assuming its billions of dollars in debt.

Private equity firm TPG will acquire AT&T’s remaining 70% stake in DirecTV. This move comes nine years after AT&T purchased the company in 2015, only to sell a 30% stake to TPG in 2021, a DirecTV spokesperson told CNN.

The deal still hinges on Dish bondholders agreeing to net debt lower than $1.56 billion.

A DirecTV spokesperson said the company will look to secure this in the coming weeks. Bondholders can accept a lower percentage, take a slightly higher percentage today, or wait it out—risking Dish ending up in bankruptcy.