Could DIRECTV & Dish Merge Again? Some Analysts Think So

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Follow me on X.

Here we go again.

Investor’s Business Daily is reporting that financial analysts are speculating that DIRECTV and Dish could renew merger talks following Echostar’s (Dish’s owner) decision to sell $23 billion in wireless spectrum to AT&T.

The two TV providers agreed to merge last year but DIRECTV called it off when Dish’s creditors refused to accept a reduced settlement on their debts. As part of the merger, DIRECTV was willing to assume Dish’s debt but not at the level it was currently at.

However, Echostar says it will use the AT&T funds to lower company debt and that could reopen the door to the DIRECTV-Dish merger since the debt issues was the main stumbling block.

“We believe this $23 billion pending sale of spectrum to AT&T, combined with ongoing pressure from the FCC on SATS to sell spectrum, will lead to further actions by Echostar that will unlock shareholder value and propel the stock higher in the coming months. These include additional spectrum sales and revisiting a Dish Network-DIRECTV merger,” says Deutsche Bank analyst Bryan Kraft, according to Investor’s Business Daily.

“A DIRECTV-Dish merger could be revisited,” adds TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams.

The AT&T-Echostar spectrum sale has to be approved by federal regulators and any existing differences between DIRECTV and Dish would have to be ironed out. (No small matter considering the companies have flirted unsuccessfully with mergers several times over the years; one successful attempt was nixed by the FCC in 2002.) But with pay TV subscriptions for both companies continuing to decline, coming together seems to make sense to reduce expenses and strengthen marketing efforts.

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