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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Apr 30, 2014 22:27:56 GMT -6
www.deadline.comIn what could be the next mega-deal in the TV world, AT&T reportedly has an interest in the satcaster giant. The Wall Street Journal reported tonight that AT&T has approached DirecTV about a possible acquisition, which likely would be worth $40 billion, the paper said. Neither company would comment on the WSJ report. The deal would create a Pay TV behemoth potentially on the same scale as the Comcast’s proposed $45 billion merger with with direcTV__130523212608Time Warner Cable. DirecTV is the No. 2 pay service, with about 20 million subscribers, and AT&T phone-based TV biz has nearly 6 million. AT&T has an existing partnership with the satellite giant to sell its service in areas where it offers broadband but doesn’t offer its U-verse TV service. AT&T just this week teamed with Peter Chernin in a venture to create an online service that can take the place of traditional pay TV.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on May 12, 2014 20:58:41 GMT -6
variety.com/2014/biz/news/att-set-to-buy-directv-for-about-50-billion-report-1201178578/AT&T is in advanced talks to acquire satellite TV leader DirecTV in a deal worth $50 billion, according to published reports. The telco hopes to clinch a deal to buy DirecTV — which has about 20 million U.S. subscribers — within two weeks, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which broke the story late last month that AT&T had approached DirecTV about an acquisition. Under the proposed pact, DirecTV CEO Mike White and other top management would continue to run the satcaster as a unit of AT&T until White retires sometime after 2015, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. The telco is offering about $100 per share for DirecTV, according to Bloomberg’s report. Reps for AT&T and DirecTV declined to comment on the reports. A tie-up between AT&T and DirecTV has been speculated about for years. But the parties have a new impetus in joining forces to take on Comcast, whose $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable would produce an entity serving about 30 million U.S. TV subscribers. Analysts have speculated that AT&T could migrate its 5.7 million U-verse TV subscribers to DirecTV’s satellite-delivered service, freeing up bandwidth in its terrestrial data networks. With 26 million pay-TV subscribers, AT&T would also gain leverage in programming negotiations on par with a merged Comcast-TW Cable. An AT&T bid for DirecTV would face close regulatory scrutiny, and the companies expect a 12-month-long review process, Bloomberg reported. Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen, speaking on the satcaster’s first-quarter earnings call last week, said “there certainly is economic rationale” for AT&T acquiring DirecTV because it would be an accretive transaction for the telco. He said Dish has “no shot” in outbidding AT&T for DirecTV, adding: “We don’t want to pay a value for something that’s purely financial, not strategic.”
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