TPG, an alternative asset management firm, has announced the completion of its acquisition from AT&T of the remaining 70 per cent stake in DirecTV it did not already own. With the completion of this transaction, DirecTV is now a wholly owned portfolio company of TPG Capital, the firm’s US and European private equity platform. This […]

The planned merger between two US pay-TV satellite broadcasters is definitely off – at least for the moment. A deadline set by DirecTV passed without fresh discussions or progress happening. The blame for the decision falls on Charlie Ergen’s Dish/EchoStar and its bond (debt) holders. Under the complex merger deal, which would have created the […]

AT&T’s TV broadband products, including its NOW service, will this week change to DirecTV Stram as part of the shift to a relaunch as a standalone business under new investor TPG Capital. Most subscribers to the AT&T-branded OTT services started to receive official notifications of the change on August 14th, and warned of the name […]

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has instituted separate proceedings in the Federal Court against each of Telstra Corporation Ltd (Telstra), Optus Internet Pty Limited (Optus), and TPG Internet Pty Ltd (TPG) for making alleged false or misleading representations in their promotions of some 50Mbps and 100Mbps National Broadband Network (NBN) plans, in breach […]

AT&T is expected to close the spin-off of its DirecTV and other pay-TV operations in early August. The new division will be part-owned (30 per cent) by TPG (the former Texas Pacific Group) while AT&T holds onto 70 per cent. AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches told equity analysts during the wireless company’s Q2/2021 earnings call that […]

DirecTV is raising $3.1 billion (€2.6bn) of so-called ‘junk bonds’ (Senior Secured Notes) to help in its split from AT&T, according to an announcement from AT&T. The offer is for a 6-year period and the bonds will be priced on July 22nd and will come from DirecTV Entertainment Holdings. The cash will be used to […]

AT&T is due to officially reveal its financials on July 22nd, but it is already apparent that subscriber numbers are not good. AT&T, in an SEC filing, stated that its subscriber count for the combined DirecTV, AT&T TV and AT&T U-verse divisions totalled 15.412 million, which is a drop of 2.3 million year-on-year or 13 […]

As expected, AT&T is to sell off a slice of DirecTV to TPG and spin off the company to a new business. Private equity firm TPG will then own 30 per cent of the new entity with AT&T holding on to the balance. The deal is expected to close in the second half of this […]

There are unconfirmed reports that TPG (the former Texas Pacific Group) is to take a significant but minority stake in AT&T’s DirecTV business. Reuters reported that discussions were at an advanced stage some weeks ago, and the stake is understood to include AT&T’s TV NOW and U-verse offerings.  CNBC and Bloomberg are both reporting on […]

TPG, the former Texas Pacific Group, is in exclusive talks to acquire a stake in AT&T’s DirecTV. TPG Capital is a private equity investment giant headquartered in San Francisco. Multiple reports say that TPG is now in the lead to make a move on AT&T’s DirecTV, although news sources differ in the possible size of […]