AT&T To Buy DIRECTV for $67 Billion

ChadT41 said:

All it takes is the limited market they do have. When looking at the financials that popped up in a quick google search, they reported 6.1 million TV subscribers. That puts them at 26 million if approved. Definitely competition, even if just a little competition. They hold a little under 1/3 of DTV TV base. http://www.att.com/Common/about_us/pdf/uverse_update.pdf
To be fair, my battery is dying so I didn't even look at the year on this, or even the quarter. It was the first to pop up.

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AT&T has extended the termination date of the agreement to acquire DirecTV.The short extension will allow it to obtain the final regulatory approval it needs to close the deal, which it expects will close shortly, AT&T (NYSE: T) stated in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.AT&T initially announced plans to acquire DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) in a deal worth $48.5 billion in May. Since then, it has undergone hearings and regulatory reviews that aim to determine whether or not the deal could be harmful to the market.

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DirecTV and AT&T have agreed to a brief extension of the termination date of their merger, adding in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects the $48.5 billion deal to be consummated shortly.In a brief statement filed June 30, the satellite giant said the parties had agreed to an unspecified extension to the deal. The merger was expected to receive approval on June 30, but sources have said that it could bleed into early July.The deal, which will create a satellite TV and wireline communications powerhouse with more than 26 million video customers, was not expected to receive much pushback from the Federal Communications Commission (see "Sources: FCC Poised To OK AT&T-DirecTV Merger.")

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The word Friday from a host of industry sources tracking government vetting of the $48.5 billion merger between AT&T and DirecTV is expected to get the green light from the FCC and the Department of Justice soon, with negotiations over deal conditions wrapping up and a decision coming likely within "days" or at most a couple of weeks.While it's never over until it's over, multiple sources said the deal would be approved, perhaps as early as next week.The proposed merger never drew the kind of pushback from anti-consolidation activists that the failed Comcast/TWC merger did.

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whitewolf8214 said:

Sources: FCC Poised to OK AT&T-DirecTV Merger Negotiations Over Conditions Said to be Wrapping Up - See more at: http://www.multichannel.com/news/po...tt-directv-merger/391725#sthash.lGDVZxtT.dpuf http://www.multichannel.com/news/policy/sources-fcc-poised-ok-att-directv-merger/391725

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AT&T Inc's proposed $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV is expected to get U.S. regulatory approval as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, a decision that will combine the country's No. 2 wireless carrier with the largest satellite-TV provider.The Department of Justice, which assesses whether deals violate antitrust law, has completed its review of the merger and is waiting on the Federal Communications Commission to wrap up its own, according to three people familiar with the matter.The FCC, which reviews if deals are in public interest, is poised to approve the deal with conditions as early as next week, according to three other people familiar with the matter.

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Jimbo said:

Why did at&t extend a deadline ... I guess it depends on what its referring to, I would have thought that the deadline extension would have been to the FCC.

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mike123abc said:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...titrust-approval-for-directv-with-fcc-pending

Reports now that the DOJ has signed off on the merger without conditions. The FCC still has to sign off, and there are rumors of the FCC wanting conditions like dropping out of the lawsuits over net neutrality and concessions over peering issues.

DIRECTV side of things of course did not have any issues, just the death star side of the merger...

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juan said:

ATT was death star...att is really sbc a ATT divested company..no relation whatsoever to deathstar

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mike123abc said:

Just its young apprentice which is now the master....

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juan said:

That's evil verizon

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juan said:

ATT was death star...att is really sbc a ATT divested company..no relation whatsoever to deathstar

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Jimbo said:

I disagree with your idea about sbc ...afterall, it was cingular as well at the same time it was sbc.
That said, they did decide to go with at&t due to Name recognition.

SBC was just some big company that may have been owned by cbs in the long run ...

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juan said:

it was a combination of baby bells pacific telesis amongst others..same with Verizon (verizon has nynex, bellatlantic, gte and mci)

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AT&T–DIRECTV merger..In late May, FierceCable reported that AT&T (T) and DIRECTV (DTV) sent a memo to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), “pushing back on proposed deal conditions suggested by rivals including Dish Network (DISH) and Cogent Communications (CCOI).”Dish had proposed that after the merger, AT&T–DIRECTV should provide an Internet product at a fixed price and speed for seven years. AT&T has opposed this condition, stating that it is ready to provide such a service for three years following regulatory approval, but not beyond that. This is because AT&T would not have access to any broadband infrastructure with its purchase of DIRECTV.

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