Another big media merger has finally been confirmed.
Satellite TV provider DirecTV (T, TPG) said Monday it will buy rival Dish Network (SATS), including Dish’s streaming brand Sling TV, through a debt exchange transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval, is set to create one of the nation’s largest pay-TV providers.
“The combination of DirecTV and Dish will benefit US video consumers by creating a more robust competitive force in a video industry dominated by streaming services owned by large tech companies and programmers,” the companies said in a joint statement.
Shares in EchoStar, which owns Dish Network, moved about 1% higher in premarket trading following the news, although the stock had surged nearly 10% on Friday after the acquisition rumors intensified.
Monday’s deal confirmation represents a full circle moment after both companies discussed a possible combination more than two decades ago.
In 2002, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) blocked a proposal to merge the two entities, citing antitrust concerns. But it’s a much different environment this time around as subscriber losses have accelerated and more consumers cut the cord in favor of less expensive streaming services.
“It’s hard to imagine that regulators would block a deal,” MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett wrote in an email to clients prior to the deal’s confirmation. But the analyst also warned that “synergies would likely be much more limited than you might imagine.”
He referenced the companies’ vastly different satellite portfolios, which he argued would not be “remotely worthwhile” to reconfigure in order for them to match.
“The biggest synergy would once have been to eliminate churn associated with customers moving back and forth between the two companies,” he said. “But today they each capture so few gross additions that cutting them, potentially even in half, wouldn’t amount to much.”
Still, the deal will help aid EchoStar’s heavy debt load while also helping cut costs for the owners of DirecTV. AT&T spun off DirecTV in 2021, moving it into a joint venture with private equity investor TPG. At the time, it was valued at about $16 billion with the telecom giant taking a $15.5 billion impairment charge in 2020 to account for subscriber losses.
DirecTV was dealt yet another blow after it lost its coveted Sunday Ticket package to Alphabet’s YouTube TV (GOOGL, GOOG) in late 2022.
Amid those struggles, AT&T revealed on Monday that it would sell its entire 70% stake to TPG for $7.6 billion in a move that allows the telecom operator to fully exit the TV business. The company previously had agreed to hold onto its stake in DirecTV for a three-year period, which expired on July 31.
The transaction, which the company said allows it to strengthen its balance sheet and focus on wireless 5G and fiber connectivity, is expected to close in the second half of next year.
“It’s hard to argue that a merger [between DirecTV and Dish] shouldn’t happen; it clearly should. Consolidation during a period of secular decline is always to be expected,” Moffett said in his note. “But it would be a mistake to overestimate its importance. Adding a year or so to the expected life of satellite TV isn’t going to change the narrative for programmers, distributors, or even for satellite TV.”
Alexandra is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @alliecanal8193 and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com
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