DirecTV, Dish reportedly close to merger deal

Over the last decade, there’s been a lot of discussion of a potential DirecTV-Dish merger. That now appears to be back on again as per a number of reports this week, including one from Bloomberg’s Michelle F. Davis Thursday:

DirecTV and Dish are in advanced talks to merge in a deal that would create the largest US pay-TV provider https://t.co/qZbdKGuV71

— Bloomberg Markets (@markets) September 26, 2024

Here’s more from that piece:

DirecTV and Dish are in advanced talks to merge in a deal that would create the largest US pay-TV provider, with almost 20 million subscribers, people familiar with the matter said.

An agreement could be announced as soon as the coming days, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. DirecTV is in talks to control the combined entity, which will be closely held, the people said.

Yes, as per Leichtman Research Group numbers at the end of 2023, DTV had 12.4 million subscribers for their various packages (counting 1.1 million for DirecTV Stream). Meanwhile, Dish/Sling parent Echostar had 6 million and 2 million respectively for those services. So a combination here would certainly be massive, and would add to these MVPDs’ market power. But it’s worth noting that a DTV-Sling merger has been talked up a lot in the past, with nothing eventually coming from that.

Of course, the environment is different in 2024 than it was in the past. The overall percentage of homes with a MVPD package has declined, as have the numbers of homes with satellite (still the bread-and-butter for both these companies). And there’s discussion to be had about any potential impact from the 2024 U.S. presidential election, as this merger would not be taken up until the new year and new administration.

It’s far from certain that Dish and DirecTV will eventually combine. But this has been under discussion for a long time, and it’s notable that there’s some apparent new momentum for it. We’ll see what that leads to.

[Bloomberg]