DirectTV, owned by telco giant AT&T and Charlie Ergen’s DISH Network are reportedly in “early stage” talks to merge their pay-TV businesses.

The report from Bloomberg says a successful merger would create the largest pay-TV platform in North America with around 16 million subscribers.

There have been talks about a merger between the two players for years. They formally tried to merge in 2002 but were blocked by the US Department of Justice on antitrust concerns. However, with today’s media landscape presenting a very different picture for consumers with many new ways of receiving content a merger would likely not create any monopoly concerns.

A DirecTV spokesperson said: “Rumours about a potential transaction involving DirecTV and DISH are nothing new, but we don’t comment on rumours and speculation.”

Perhaps coincidentally, investment bank Morgan Stanley raised EchoStar’s share price target to $20 [€18.02] (from $14) on September 13th. The news helped drive EchoStar – which owns DISH Network – to a recent high spot for its shares of $23.

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Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Business, DTH/Satellite, M&A

Tags: AT&T, charlie ergen, DirectTV, Dish Network