Excellent catch.
It would appear that the following details are most noteworthy:
1. Can you provide any additional detail around your cost synergies?
...It is anticipated that at least 40% of these total synergies will be realized by year two after closing.
...Programming cost reductions are the most significant part of the expected cost synergies. At this time, AT&T’s U-verse content costs represent approximately 60% of its subscriber video revenues. With the scale this transaction provides, we estimate AT&T’s U-verse content costs after the completion of the transaction will be reduced by approximately 20% or more as compared with our forecasted standalone content costs.
[I wonder if this content cost reduction is because DirecTV had already negotiated lower carrier fees or because AT&T expects future savings from re-negotiating U-verse-based content?]
2. What incremental bundling opportunities exist with the combined companies?
U.S. consumers prefer to purchase pay TV service in a bundle with broadband connections and access video programming anywhere on any device, making mobile service a desirable part of the bundle. ...
[Fascinating admission, eh? Clearly, AT&T's paying attention to "cord shavers," not "cord cutters"]
The economics of this transaction will allow the combined company to upgrade 2 million additional locations to high speed broadband with Gigapower FTTP (fiber to the premise) and expand our high speed broadband footprint to an additional 13 million locations where AT&T will be able to offer a pay TV and high speed broadband bundle.
[Aha! Here's a real news-maker: AT&T Gigabit Internet is expanding. It will be interesting to find out who all is included in the "2 million additional locations."]
6. How competitive will the deployment of your fixed wireless broadband service be?
Today, many Americans in rural areas lack access to a high speed broadband service or have access to only one provider. With the cost synergies and increased revenue from this transaction, AT&T will expand its high speed broadband build to offer a competitive bundle of high speed fixed wireless broadband and satellite video service. We expect fixed wireless broadband to provide speeds of 10 -15 Mbps during peak periods with even higher maximum speeds during off peak times.
[If I'm reading this correctly, it would appear that while AT&T's push into rural with wireless was not unexpected, at least they're not initially planning to deploy via satellite Internet, but instead fixed wireless (e.g.: 4G/LTE). The only issue with this deployment strategy (at least from a consumer standpoint), of course, is that there'll likely be severely restricted data caps placed on these kinds of plans]
