Is it going to happen??? What if it does happen?? It almost happened in the early 2000s. I am talking about the new rumor about Dish/Directv, after AT&T is letting Directv go. Years ago, streaming was never heard of, so now even if they would merge, will it save either one of them or save both from those who have already jumped ship from all of those who are now streaming, and decided to cut the cord.
Dish/Directv Merger
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Prayer service tonight at 8, to pray this doesn’t happen!
If it happens, Dish will claim everybody is going to benefit, lower monthly payments, better content. In reality some office people will be kicked out and we won't have much choice. A lot of us are stuck with satellite, and even streaming with no data caps is not very conveninent. I am losing my sleep already!
I read somewhere the other day that a private equity firm is going to buy D* for like 1/8th of what AT&T paid for it. Can't find the article now
You are correct, a PE firm (It in the Yahoo DirectTV forum) is buying a take in DirectTV and UVerse, but only a 30% stake to give them some free cash flow.
AT&T Execs Speak Out On Selling DIRECTV - The TV Answer Man!
It depends on the remaining shares and the float. But if AT&T owns the entire 70% float, I looked at DirectTV Holdings is listed as 100% private then the option of a merger would be slim unless the PE firm (an PE firms are really really wait...REALLY aggressive) pressure AT&T to pursue the merger and if Charlie would even be interested.
All PE firm want is an exit strategy that will get their money back and more in X years. It would have to be either from fees from AT&T for their 'advisory' services or orchestrating a sale of the business. Charlie would not be interested in buying TPG's 30% because that would not give him control or decision abilities.
So. for now, it's a balance sheet move and if DTV still keep tanking and the PE firm swaps more debt for equity then they could become the real owners. But then again, once that happens you have a DirectTV that is saddled with so much debt that any sane business man would not even think about it unless the play is to acquire it and Chapter 11 it and then reorganize as the new Dish.
Lots of ways this could play out but IMHO, Charlie would be pretty low on the totem pole and years out.
As Charlie said back in Dec., it's probably inevitable that the nation's two satellite TV service merge at some point. I doubt they try to do it for awhile longer though as DirecTV is now being managed by a new joint venture group co-owned by AT&T and a hedge fund, TPG, which bought a 30% stake in the business. That deal isn't going to close until the latter half of this year and then it will take the new board awhile to formulate and implement plans to try to improve DirecTV's prospects.
But my gut says that they'll aim to get it in better shape so that it can fetch a better price for a sale, maybe a couple years or so from now. I doubt DISH themselves would be the buyer as they and their cash are occupied with 5G. Instead, it would probably be a third party (like TPG or another investor group) that would buy both DirecTV and DISH in order to merge them. Or perhaps both businesses would be spun off from their parent companies (well, DirecTV already IS being spun out from AT&T into a separate group) and merged in a new joint venture that would be jointly owned by DISH, AT&T and TPG.
Everyone knows that DirecTV and DISH are both declining assets with subscriber bases that will only ever decrease. But they'll still be around for years, and will continue to generate a lot of cash. So the question for whoever owns and manages them is how to reduce their costs, run them more efficiently, make them more profitable, and ensure that they have enough subscribers to remain a viable business for as long as possible before that day, some years down the road, when satellite TV in the US finally goes dark.
But my gut says that they'll aim to get it in better shape so that it can fetch a better price for a sale, maybe a couple years or so from now. I doubt DISH themselves would be the buyer as they and their cash are occupied with 5G. Instead, it would probably be a third party (like TPG or another investor group) that would buy both DirecTV and DISH in order to merge them. Or perhaps both businesses would be spun off from their parent companies (well, DirecTV already IS being spun out from AT&T into a separate group) and merged in a new joint venture that would be jointly owned by DISH, AT&T and TPG.
Everyone knows that DirecTV and DISH are both declining assets with subscriber bases that will only ever decrease. But they'll still be around for years, and will continue to generate a lot of cash. So the question for whoever owns and manages them is how to reduce their costs, run them more efficiently, make them more profitable, and ensure that they have enough subscribers to remain a viable business for as long as possible before that day, some years down the road, when satellite TV in the US finally goes dark.
Hopefully that's a long way off...
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