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.

[CatherineofAragon]

"people still pay for tv?"

If you live in an area where the fastest internet service you can get sometimes isn't good enough for a three-minute Youtube video?

Oh, yeah.

[only1percent]

Yup. Netflix, Amazon and Google (YouTube) will be vendors to Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, etc., not their replacements.

[icwhatudo]

What are you using these days?

I mostly watch Veetle when I don’t want to pick a cerrtain show and just want it on in backgroun, Movie4k for movies on demand (with Solarmovies as a backup), FREETVALL when I want to watch a cable channel, and ProjectFreeTV to catch up on a series like BAR RESCUE or PSYCHE. For sports I use Firstrow.

[bigbob]

Wait til Google or Verizon buys Dish Network...

[bert]

bfl

[Dallas59]

It will be like the days of old....ABC,NBC and CBS owned TV. Now it will be Comcast, ATT and?

[dfwgator]

In America, TV watches you.

[bert]

or google buys verizon and dish

[napscoordinator]

people still pay for tv?

It is chump change compared to what we are going to pay for the internet in a few years. We are going to get a monthly limit of 200 GB and then pay a fee for every GB that we go over. It is going to be UGLY!!!!! I would rather pay the 100 dollars for cable. The internet bills are going to be 600 a month for those that watch a lot of movies on Netflix and use their internet for work or anything else. We are going to pay more than we ever thought possible.

[napscoordinator]

They key to televisions future lies in unlimited broadband

Those days are ending. They want to put a 200 GB on all families in the next few years. Comcast will be the first to do this.

[CodeToad]

Charter Communications can’t catch a break.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Yup. Netflix, Amazon and Google (YouTube) will be vendors to Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, etc., not their replacements.

Well...maybe not Google. They have their Google Fiber rollout of IP services on 1 gigabit/sec fiber-optic cable, for only $70/month. However, it's only available in three cities so far, and of course all are in states with good business environments which don't make new infrastructure costs unbearably high, so they can actually go ahead and lay down fiber.

[visualops]

it’s very troubling. services are getting more and more expensive as technology advances and it doesn’t make any sense really. other than we just look like sheep ready for the fleecing I guess.

[icwhatudo]

bfl? NO idea what that is

[DariusBane]

How are you getting live sports? NBA, NFL and NCAA football? That is the only reason i have cable. ??

[Moonman62]

Another monopoly in the making.

A one stop crony shop for the politicians. Report the news they way we want, and you can screw your customers as much as you want.

[bert]

bump for later so I can check out your sites.

I like 8 octive.......lots of british WWII movies

[cableguymn]

and that is why the big boys are moving to limit traffic on their networks for those types of services.

[cableguymn]

mine would be 200 with out the promo.. I will cancel at the end of the last month of said promo.

[Charles Martel]

Wait til Google or Verizon buys Dish Network...

Yep, that's bound to happen. I bet people are going to give Aereo a more serious look now.