AT&T agrees to buy DirecTV in $48.5 billion cash and stock deal

Chicago Tribune ^ | 05/18/2014 | Mike Stone

[SeekAndFind]

DirecTV, the No. 1 U.S. satellite TV operator, said on Sunday it has agreed to sell itself to AT&T for $48.5 billion, in the second mega-deal to shake up the U.S. television landscape this year.

The deal with Dallas-based AT&T, which has some TV and broadband services, is the latest in a string of big takeovers the wireless operator has considered. Those include an abortive bid for T-Mobile USA in 2011, as well as a potential takeover of Vodafone Plc that receded as a possibility after Comcast Corp surprised the industry this year with a $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable Inc.

[icwhatudo]

people still pay for tv?

[VerySadAmerican]

Another monopoly in the making.

[LS]

Yeah, this probably won’t end well.

[Bogey78O]

Wow. They stopped pussy footing around and did something.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Having had terrible service and customer service experiences with both, I’d have to say customers of each should notice no real change in quality. Except for the inevitable price hikes as two television providers become one and market competition is further reduced.

[PittsburghAfterDark]

The end result for video services is going to be ugly.

A few consolidators may own all the major distribution channels like satellite and cable and think it’s a stranglehold. It isn’t.

They key to televisions future lies in unlimited broadband and the set top box. Think Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV.

Bundled and wide ranging television packages are going to die a horrid death. I do question the regulatory approval for this but this type of consolidation is truly desperate when you look at the fact that anyone under the age of 20 has figured out how to watch anything they want without cable or satellite.

[freedumb2003]

>>They key to televisions future lies in unlimited broadband and the set top box. Think Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV.<<

Yep.

I still am terrestrial (mostly my ATT bundle is the best deal in my area, but I missed DirectTV a LOT).

But when I feel the value isn’t there, I will cancel and go to a pull model (also Netflix — and YouTube has hundreds of thousands of full episodes of shows of the types I love).

[catfish1957]

Another monopoly in the making.

Add this to the Comcast merger of Time Warner Cable, and what will you get $200 cable bills real soon.

[Phillyred]

soon?

[TaxPayer2000]

There goes the neighborhood.

[clintonh8r]

The combination of Comcast and NBCU is far more troubling than the ATT/DirecTV deal. Comcast’s control of channel availability, content and delivery system makes it the closest of all to a true monopoly.

[grania]

The problem is the two mega-mergers are going to control content, which they won't have to offer to anyone except their own subscribers. They'll be so huge they'll create their own shows. The rest of us will have to watch the shows on minor channels or Netflix later, or purchase DVDs. They'll also be rich enough to buy rights to major sports events.

That's happening already with shows on stations that aren't on free antenna TV. Free TV will exist, but the content will get even worse.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

They key to televisions future lies in unlimited broadband and the set top box. Think Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV.

Comcast has started charging Netflix a premium for service - and of course Netflix is going to pass that cost on to consumers (who are already paying for Comcast's service). This will not be the last time it happens, either - as long as the ISPs are also in the business of providing content services which compete with the content services their customers want, they have a financial incentive to disadvantage services like Netflix and anything else which might be available on Roku or Apple TV.

Eventually it'll get to the point where services like Netflix must charge customers too much to be viable options to ISP content services, and before they finally are driven out of business I'd expect to see them impose conditions like bundling in an attempt to stay alive.

In 5-10 years, the US will have 2 or 3 major streaming content providers and they will be today's major cable providers - the cost advantage of owning the ISP service as well as the content service is unbeatable.

[UB355]

62.1 million American homes subscribed to basic cable

[jocon307]

I feel like this isn’t good.

[max americana]

“people still pay for tv?”

LOL, I find this funny too. You can watch any movie or series free, including any sport on the web as long as you have a fast web connection. All you need is a pc or laptop.

[dfwgator]

Back before the Government-Business complex became what it is, this kind of deal would have been DOA.

[SevenofNine]

If wasn’t for Deadliest Catch and Duck Dynasty I would cut the core with Verzion FIOS long time ago

Hey I still have my regular tv set I been watching lots more Antenna TV, ME TV This TV Movies tv network Gettv and the Works channel also Cozi TV on so called regular tv

[berdie]

I guess I find this purchase odd since AT&T is pushing their u-verse service. (at least around here)

I guess it could be part of a long range plan to put DirectTV out of business and drive customers to u-verse?