Actually, a merge would work better for rural customers: In the last failed attempt to merge DirecTV and Dish, as part of the deal, the new single sat provider proposed and agreed to a TWO-card rate with one being a LESS expensive rate (a big discount from the current rates) for the same services for rural customers recognizing a lack of real competition, while all the other subs would be charged the full rate.
I would not trust that as far as I could throw it. They might be bound by it for a while, but they would weasel out of it some way or another. It would be just like when CenturyTel merged with Embarq, they were "supposed" to supply at LEAST 3mpbs download speed to the whole network, and that has never happened.