It’s all but a done deal, according to some reports that DIRECTV and DISH will reach an agreement to merge. With the growth of cord cutting, both companies find themselves in a difficult position similar to the one Sirius and XM satellite radio once faced that forced them to merge to avoid going under.
Now DISH is reportedly facing bankruptcy, and DIRECTV is reportedly also facing its own issues that could, in the long run, force it to go under. Both companies are being hit hard by cord cutting—something that has been increasing recently as high speed internet is now more widely available.
With this deal, DISH TV and Sling TV will reportedly be spun out into a newly merged company with DISH, AT&T, and TPG all owning a share of it. This new company will be run by the DIRECTV leadership.
So, what does that mean for cord cutters and cord cutting overall?
In the short term, this merger is being forced on both companies because of cord cutting. The growth of cheaper TV options has made them face the fact that their model is not sustainable.
For cord cutters, very little is likely to change in the short term leading up to and even for a bit after the merger. It will take some time for these two companies to finish this deal. It will also take time after the deal to make any major changes.
Will Sling TV survive this merger? DIRECTV’s leadership will reportedly take over DISH’s TV service. Will the DIRECTV leadership want to keep two similar but very different streaming services in DIRECTV STREAM and Sling TV? That is an answer only they know.
Until we know more, this change will have almost no impact on most cord cutters going forward.
We do have some hints about a possible future as DIRECTV recently reached a deal to offer smaller cheaper bundles of channels with Disney. This could suggest that both Sling TV and DIRECTV STREAM could find themselves with new bundles in a newly merged streaming service to give them more options. For now, that is all speculation.