For years there have been talks of a possible DIRECTV and Dish merger. Recently a possible merger between DIRECTV and DISH looks a little more realistic. Now both companies are at a point where a merger is needed as both struggle to deal with the growth of cord cutting.
Already the two companies have started to work together. Back in April, DIRECTV Advertising and DISH Media announced that they are issuing new standardized solutions for enabling programming structured with a simpler, more consistent process to improve workflow. In a press release by DISH Media, the collaborative efforts are intended to reduce the time and effort necessary for “programmers to enable addressable advertising across multiple distributor footprints.”
Together, the companies have devised three distinct options designed to grant programmers flexibility in enabling. DIRECTV and DISH Media also streamlined the implementation process by removing custom integrations and developments, thus expediting the entire process.
Now there are reports that both DIRECTV and Dish are in talks for a possible merger. Now these talks are not just to work together on ads but for the two companies to spin off their satellite TV service into one, but that it may not be going well.
The growth of cord cutting and AT&T spinning DIRECTV off into its own company creates conditions that could make the merger a reality. For years every attempt to merge the two TV services died over fears of it creating a monopoly. Now with cord cutting, there is real competition for your TV service, removing objections over competition fears as services like YouTube TV, Hulu, Philo, and fuboTV, to name a few, offer real options. This means fears over the FCC blocking a merger because of competition concerns have almost vanished.
Now though, as conditions for a possible merger are finally favorable, the talks have reportedly stalled over possible money issues at Dish. This comes from a report by the New York Post, which says sources claim talks between Dish and DIRECTV have stalled as Dish struggles to find money for its operations.
At issue here is Dish’s need to finish its 5G buildout to meet FCC rules by 2025. Dish right now reportedly needs to spend billions to build out its 5G network.
Now with a possible merger with DIRECTV delayed or worse, it puts more pressure on Dish’s 5G wireless plans. The talks are not dead, but according to this report, a merger between Dish and DIRECTV is far from a done deal.
Dish’s subscriber numbers are down to just 7.42 million subscribers. This is down from 14.1 million in the 1st quarter of 2014. DIRECTV no longer reports subscriber numbers but as of the end of 2022, it was estimated by Statista that DIRECTV was down to just 13.1 million subscribers. This is down from the 25.47 million DIRECTV had back in 2015.
So will this merger finally happen? Right now, it seems to be in the best interest of both companies. Now it comes down to a question about how they will figure out the details. With the pressure of cord cutting it is very likely both companies will be forced to make a deal or face shutting down in the future.
Bringing Dish and DIRECTV together could be the best option to help keep both services running.