Satellite television providers DirectTV and Dish Network are close to a long-anticipated combination of their operations in the United States, after years of speculation about their consolidation. A similar deal in 2002 faced competition concerns but the situation is very different now, with both companies losing satellite subscribers and EchoStar facing debt problems.
It seems likely that DirecTV will acquire the EchoStar Dish Network and its Sling TV online television and video service. It is unlikely to include the spectrum assets that EchoStar has built up for deploying mobile network services.
Having been acquired by AT&T in 2015 for $67 billion, DirecTV was spun out in 2021, with 30% acquired by private equity firm TPG in a deal that valued the company at about $16 billion. At the time it had 15.4 million satellite television subscribers, down from a peak of over 21 million in 2016. It no longer publishes numbers, but the figure is believed to have fallen to around 11 million.
EchoStar faces the prospect of bankruptcy if it is unable to pay off nearly $2 billion in debt due in November. From having 14 million satellite subscribers in 2014, Dish Network ended the first half of 2024 with just over 6 million satellite subscribers and 2 million Sling TV customers.
The combination of DirecTV and Dish, with approaching 20 million subscribers between them, would produce the largest television subscription service provider in the country, well ahead of cable company Comcast, which has 13.20 million video subscribers in the United States.
Update
Further details of the deal were announced on 30 September. Under the terms of the purchase agreement, DirecTV will acquire EchoStar’s video distribution business, including Dish TV and Sling TV, in exchange for a nominal consideration of $1 plus the assumption of the debt of Dish.
On the close of the transaction, which is expected to be in the fourth quarter of 2025, subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals, the combined business will be led by Ray Carpenter, the chief executive of DirecTV, based in El Segundo, California.
Separately, TPG will acquire the remaining 70% stake in DirecTV from AT&T that it does not already own. This is expected to close in the second half of 2025 and is not contingent on the DirecTV acquisition of Dish.