DirecTV, Dish merger “advanced talks”
September 27, 2024
By Chris Forrester

The long-awaited merger between DirecTV and Dish Network appears imminent and could be announced as early as September 30th, according to a report in the WSJ.
If an agreement is reached, the result would be the creation of the largest pay-TV operator in the US. Together, the pair would have some 20 million subscribers.
The report, however, says that it will be DirecTV, itself backed by AT&T, that would acquire Charlie Ergen-owned Dish.
The upside for Ergen is that it will put cash into his EchoStar pocket and a much-needed lifeline to settle some very pressing debt issues for EchoStar.
A merger between the DirecTV and Dish has been talked about for many years – first mooted in 2001 and turned down then by anti-trust regulators. Today’s broadcasting and streaming market is in a very different landscape and a merger is unlikely to run into regulatory problems.
Other posts by :
- Ghana makes MultiChoice fee decision
- SES announces €0.25c dividend
- Russia “blinding and destroying” German satellites
- Bank: AST, Starlink, Kuiper targeting $200bn market
- Rivada: Is no news good news?
- SES celebrates Intelsat acquisition
- Pakistan halts broadband direct-from satellite
- India stymies Starlink launch
- Starlink, AST SpaceMobile race for cellular consumers