Will DIRECTV & Dish Try Another Merger?

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –Follow me on X.
Former editor of Satellite DIRECT magazine. Reported on DIRECTV for 30 years.

TV Answer Man, now that DIRECTV has killed the merger deal, is that the end of Dish and any possible teaming of the two companies? Could they try another merger deal? — Steve, Fairfax, Virginia.

Steve, DIRECTV last Friday night terminated its agreement to purchase Dish’s satellite service and Sling TV’s live streaming service because Dish was unable to resolve its creditor issues. As part of the DIRECTV-Dish deal, which was announced September 30, DIRECTV agreed to assume Dish’s debt which is around $10 billion. However, the agreement was contingent on Dish convincing the creditors to accept a debt exchange which the creditors rejected.

Since the deal was scuttled, I have received several e-mails from readers asking if Dish will now have to declare bankruptcy and/or DIRECTV and Dish could renegotiate the deal and put the merger back in place.

The answers are:

1. Quite possibly.

2. Quite possibly.

Dish could declare bankruptcy and then seek a more favorable settlement with the creditors. This in turn could bring DIRECTV back to purchase Dish’s TV assets without such a significant financial burden (the Dish debt).

How the new deal would be structured is anyone’s guess but the forces that drove the original DIRECTV-Dish sale have not changed. Both companies still need this. DIRECTV has lost more than 14 million subscribers in the last decade while Dish has lost several million and is saddled with that enormous debt. The only realistic way that DIRECTV can survive for several years to come is a Dish merger while Dish might not survive for another year without one.

They will likely seek a way to put Humpty Dumpty back on that wall.

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The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered the TV technology scene for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch television. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.