DirecTV and Dish Network are combining to form a pay-TV titan

• DirecTV said Monday it has agreed to acquire Dish Network from EchoStar.
• The merger would create one of the US’ largest pay-TV providers.
• In a separate deal, AT&T will sell its 70% stake in DirecTV to a private equity firm.

DirecTV announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire rival Dish Network from EchoStar, in a deal that would create one of the largest pay-TV providers in the US.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval. If it goes through, the resulting provider would have an estimated 20 million subscribers.

The deal will see DirecTV acquire EchoStar’s video distribution business — which includes Dish and Sling TV — for $1 and assume around $9.75 billion of Dish’s debt, the companies said.

Separately, US telecoms giant AT&T also said that it has agreed to sell its 70% stake in DirecTV to private equity firm TPG for $7.6 billion.

The deal, announced on Monday morning, will see TPG take full control of DirecTV.

A merger between DirecTV and Dish has been decades in the making. The two companies agreed to a deal in the early 2000s before regulators blocked it.

The deal also comes at a challenging time for the pay-TV industry, with DirecTV and Dish being squeezed by streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

In a press release announcing the news, DirecTV said the deal was necessary to compete in an increasingly crowded paid-TV landscape.

It said consumers were “cutting the cord” and ditching satellite TV for streaming services, with DirecTV and Dish collectively losing 63% of their satellite customers since 2016.