NY Post: AT&T Reaches Deal with Feds on DTV Merger

Here’s some potentially good news about the AT&T/DirecTV merger. The New York Post is reporting that AT&T has reached a deal with the feds on the conditions by which they can buy DirecTV.

Agreeing to comply means the Department of Justice will likely clear the AT&T deal in October. The FCC still has not ruled on the merger.

The move will allow AT&T to add DirecTV’s 20 million satellite-TV subscribers to its 5.7 million U-Verse TV service subscribers, which currently spans 22 states.

This merger has caused concern among those who believe the convergence of the few remaining telecom and cable giants will cause a rise in prices.

The deal has raised some eyebrows among consumer activities. We still don’t know what these conditions entail. It may mean the companies will have to spin-off some assets. If the Justice Department approves the merger, then it will mostly like get approval from the FCC. Still, nothing is guaranteed.

DTV closed today at $85.47. The merger deal is for $95. So that’s an 11% premium but I have no idea what the timeframe is.

Posted by on August 25th, 2014 at 5:04 pm


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