News: 0175524401

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DirecTV Terminates Deal To Buy Dish Satellite Business (arstechnica.com)

(Friday November 22, 2024 @05:45PM (BeauHD) from the called-off dept.)


An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:

> DirecTV is [1]pulling out of an agreement to buy its satellite rival Dish after bondholders objected to terms of the deal. DirecTV issued an [2]announcement last night saying "it has notified EchoStar of its election to terminate, effective as of 11:59 p.m., ET on Friday, November 22nd, 2024, the Equity Purchase Agreement (EPA) pursuant to which it had agreed to acquire EchoStar's video distribution business, Dish DBS."

>

> In the deal [3]announced on September 30, DirecTV was going to buy the Dish satellite TV and Sling TV streaming business from EchoStar for a nominal fee of $1. DirecTV would have taken on $9.75 billion of Dish debt if the transaction moved ahead. The deal did not include the Dish Network cellular business. Dish bondholders quickly objected to terms requiring them to take a loss on the value of their debt. DirecTV had said Dish notes would be exchanged with "a reduced principal amount of DirecTV debt which will have terms and collateral that mirror DirecTV's existing secured debt." The principal amount would have been reduced by at least $1.568 billion.

>

> DirecTV last night said it is now exercising its right to terminate the acquisition because noteholders did not accept the exchange offer. "The termination of the Agreement follows Dish DBS noteholders' failure to agree to the proposed Exchange Debt Offer Terms issued by EchoStar, which was a condition of DirecTV's obligations to acquire Dish under the EPA," the press release said. DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow indicated his company wasn't willing to change the deal to satisfy Dish bondholders. "We have terminated the transaction because the proposed Exchange Terms were necessary to protect DirecTV's balance sheet and our operational flexibility," Morrow said.



[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/11/directv-plan-to-buy-dish-for-1-is-off-as-satellite-rivals-remain-separate/

[2] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/directv-announces-termination-of-agreement-to-acquire-echostars-video-distribution-business-302313823.html

[3] https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/1836228/directv-to-buy-rival-dish-network



Too much competition from starlink? (Score:3)

by Hadlock ( 143607 )

I am just stunned to find out that sattelite TV companies are still in business in 2024. Who is paying for this stuff? I can't think of anyone who still has cable TV at this point let alone a big floppy thing bolted to the side of their house.

Re: (Score:2)

by NateTech ( 50881 )

Rural. Where telecom companies offer 1.5M DSL and mom and pop WISPs offer 10M.

Re: (Score:2)

by erice ( 13380 )

> Rural. Where telecom companies offer 1.5M DSL and mom and pop WISPs offer 10M.

Privileged! Where I grew up and my mother and brother still live, there is no DSL. A few years back they moved from satellite to cellular.

Re: (Score:2)

by Pascoea ( 968200 )

Old people. I'm not saying that to be mean, that's just my personal observation. I don't know anyone* under 40 that still has a cable/satellite package. *The exception to that "rule" are sports nuts. Cable is the last bastion of getting all your sports fixes in the same place.

Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers
in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and
was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy
fog, so the Captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.
Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported,
"Light, bearing on the starboard bow."
"Is it steady or moving astern?" the Captain called out.
Lookout replied, "Steady, Captain," which meant we were on a dangerous
collision course with that ship.
The Captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: We are on
a collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees."
Back came a signal "Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees."
In reply, the Captain said, "Send: I'm a Captain, change course 20
degrees!"
"I'm a seaman second class," came the reply, "You had better change
course 20 degrees."
By that time, the Captain was furious. He spit out, "Send: I'm a
battleship, change course 20 degrees."
Back came the flashing light: "I'm a lighthouse!"
We changed course.
-- The Naval Institute's "Proceedings"