For years now, there has been talk of DIRECTV and DISH merging. Much like how Sirus Radio and XM Radio merged to keep satellite radio alive, there is pressure for DISH and DIRECTV to merge.
DISH has even in the past talked about the possibility of a merger between DIRECTV and DISH. During the 3rd quarter of 2022 earnings, DISH’s Chairman Charlie Ergen, when asked about the possible merger, said now, “that election cycle is over next week. And then you have a window, where I think all companies are looking at M&A.” Ergen went on to say “If the timing was right, it would be in the near term, not the longer term.”
Now though, AT&T’s CEO was very quick to doge a question on if AT&T was ready to merge DIRECTV with DISH during AT&T’s earning call this week. “That’s just not something we typically speculate on,” AT&T’s CEO John Stankey said when asked about a possible merge during AT&T’s 1st quarter results. “I’ve never really commented on my point of view of what the calculus is and the combination of DIRECTV and DISH, and I don’t expect to do that today,”
Last year AT&T spun off DIRECTV into its own company so that AT&T would no longer run, but still control 70% of the service. DIRECTV is now owned in a partnership with the investment group TPG, who reportedly wants a merger to help get a return on its investment.
DISH has been heavily moving to diversify itself by diving into wireless phone services and 5G internet thanks to the purchase of Boost Mobile along with purchases of wireless spectrum. DISH is also recovering from a recent security breach that took its website offline, having a widespread impact on the company.
This now raises the question of will these two companies decided to merge or not. For now, we will have to wait and see what DISH and AT&T do with their legacy satellite TV services.
Do you think DIRECTV and DISH should merge? Leave us a comment and let us know.