On September 30, 2024, broadcast satellite and streaming company DirecTV reached an agreement to acquire Dish Network from EchoStar. [1] EchoStar and DirecTV expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, contingent on regulatory approval and bondholders writing off nearly $1.6 billion in Dish-related debt. [2]
In 2002, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen attempted to merge the network and DirecTV. Ergen's proposal was blocked by the Federal Communications Commission and the United States Department of Justice over concerns that the merger would harm competitors. [3] The Department of Justice expressed objections to a potential merger in 2020 over the availability of broadband cellular networks in rural areas, according to The New York Times . [1]
Dish Network informed investors in August 2024 that it was unable to accrue additional capital to resolve US$2 billion in debt due in November; the company has an estimated US$500 million in liquidity. [1]
On September 30, 2024, DirecTV agreed to acquire Dish Network and Sling TV for US$1. Under the agreement, DirecTV would take on Dish's debt. EchoStar, Dish Network's parent company, would continue to retain its wireless Boost Mobile and satellite connectivity businesses. Two-thirds of Dish Network's creditors must agree to the agreement and exchange their debt under DirecTV. [4]
Investment company TPG Inc. also announced that it would acquire a AT&T's 70% stake in DirecTV for US$7.6 billion, giving it complete ownership over the company. This deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025, regardless of the outcome of DirecTV's proposed acquisition of Dish Network. [5]
DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation.
The second phase of Viacom Inc., was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate with interests primarily in film and television. It was established on December 31, 2005, as one of two companies which succeeded the original Viacom, alongside the second CBS Corporation. The controlling shareholder of both companies was National Amusements, a theater company headed by businessman Sumner Redstone. The split was structured so that the original Viacom changed its name to CBS Corporation and spun out its cable and film interests as a new Viacom.
Liberty Media Corporation is an American mass media company founded by John C. Malone in 1991. The company has three divisions, reflecting its ownership stakes in Formula One Group, Sirius XM, and Live Nation Entertainment. The Sirius XM Holdings segment operates two audio entertainment companies, Sirius XM and Pandora. Sirius XM offers channels and information and entertainment services. Pandora is a streaming platform for searching for music and podcasts. As of 2024, Liberty Media is set to own three global motorsport businesses in the form of Formula One, Grand Prix motorcycle racing and World Superbikes.
Charles William Ergen is an American businessman and the is co-founder and chairman of Dish Network and EchoStar. He served as CEO of Dish Network until May 2011, when he stepped down and was succeeded by Joseph Clayton. Ergen resumed the role in March 2015 after Clayton's retirement, serving until December 2017, when Erik Carlson, then president and COO, was promoted to CEO. Ergen remains chairman of the company. Ergen owns 48 percent of Dish and 46 percent of Echostar shares, which gives him 78 percentage of Dish's and 72 percent of EchoStar's total voting power.
TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm invests in a range of industries including consumer/retail, media and telecommunications, industrials, technology, travel, leisure, and health care. TPG became a public company in January 2022, trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “TPG”.
The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises, Diamond Sports Group, Amazon, and The Blackstone Group, RedBird Capital and Mubadala Investment Company, which each own 13%. Primarily serving New York City, New York and the surrounding metropolitan area, it broadcasts a variety of sports events, as well as magazine, documentary and discussion programs; however, its main emphasis is focused on games and team-related programs involving the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and the NBA's Brooklyn Nets.
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television stations across the U.S., most of which are affiliated with the four "major" U.S. television networks and MyNetworkTV in markets as large as New York City and as small as San Angelo, Texas. It also operates all of the stations owned by affiliated companies, such as Mission Broadcasting and Vaughan Media, under local marketing agreements to satisfy existing regulations set in place by the Federal Communications Commission. In addition, Nexstar owns one radio station, WGN in Chicago, and operates major TV network the CW through a 75-percent majority stake where all CW affiliates are directly owned-and-operated stations (O&O), two terrestrial television networks airing classic shows, Antenna TV and Rewind TV, one FAST streaming channel airing sports programming, SportsGrid, and has full or partial ownership stakes in three pay television networks.
AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York.
NFL Sunday Ticket is an out-of-market sports package that broadcasts National Football League (NFL) regular season games unavailable on local affiliates. It carries all the regional Sunday afternoon games produced by Fox and CBS. The package is marketed to, primarily, fans who are unable to see their team on local television because they do not reside in one of that team's markets, or sports bars who want to increase business by attracting fans of out of market teams. Beginning with the 2023 NFL season, for residential customers in the United States, NFL Sunday Ticket moved exclusively to YouTube TV, as well as to YouTube's recently launched Primetime Channels service as a standalone subscription option. The league then formed a new company called EverPass Media to distribute the package to bars, restaurants, and other commercial venues. From 1994 through the end of the 2022 NFL season, the package was distributed in the United States exclusively by DirecTV(which also offered it on the Internet, on certain tablets and smartphones, and JetBlue flights).
Root Sports Northwest, sometimes branded simply as Root Sports, is an American regional sports network owned by the Seattle Mariners. Headquartered near Seattle in the city of Bellevue, Washington, the channel broadcasts regional coverage of sports events throughout the Pacific Northwest, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Seattle and Portland. It is available on cable providers throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska and nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.
Hughes Network Systems, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar. It is headquartered in Germantown, Maryland and provides satellite internet service. HughesNet has over a million subscribers in the Americas in late 2023, down from 1.4 million in early 2022.
DirecTV, LLC is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It also provides traditional linear television service delivered by IP through its U-verse TV brand and a virtual multichannel video programming distributor service through its DirecTV Stream brand. Its primary competitors are Dish Network, traditional cable television providers, IP-based television services, and other over-the-top video services.
EchoStar Corporation is an American company providing satellite communication, Wireless telecommunications, and Internet services. Its Hughes Network Systems and EchoStar Satellite Services business are operated from its headquarters in Arapahoe County, Colorado. The company also provides television services under the Dish and Sling brands as well as mobile services under the Boost Mobile brand.
Viacom18 Media Private Limited is an independent Indian media conglomerate Joint venture between Reliance Industries, Network18 and Bodhi Tree Systems. The joint-venture had various channels and content production studios in India. Following merger of its assets with Disney Star, it continues to be largest shareholder in the newly formed merged entity.
MGM+, is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the MGMPlus Entertainment subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which is itself a subsidiary of Amazon MGM Studios. The network's programming consists of recent and older theatrically released motion pictures, original television series, documentaries, and music and comedy specials.
AT&T Sports Networks, LLC (ATTSN) was a group of regional sports networks in the United States that primarily own and operate AT&T Sports Networks. It was owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through TNT Sports. Each of the networks carried regional broadcasts of sporting events from various professional, collegiate and high school sports teams.
The history of AT&T dates back to the invention of the telephone. The Bell Telephone Company was established in 1877 by Alexander Graham Bell, who obtained the first US patent for the telephone, and his father-in-law, Gardiner Greene Hubbard. Bell and Hubbard also established American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885, which acquired the Bell Telephone Company and became the primary telephone company in the United States. This company maintained an effective monopoly on local telephone service in the United States until anti-trust regulators agreed to allow AT&T to retain Western Electric and enter general trades computer manufacture and sales in return for its offer to split the Bell System by divesting itself of ownership of the Bell Operating Companies in 1982.
Dish Network has been the subject of a number of criticisms relating to management of advertising, disclosure of fees, telemarketing, employee rights and programming disputes; a number of which resulted in lawsuits. In the early 2000s, Dish Network received criticism regarding controversial technology and carriage disputes with programming providers. Most notably, when the Hopper digital video recorder provided an easy way for viewers to watch certain programming without commercials, major networks sued Dish Network.
Tegna Inc. is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies. Tegna comprised the more profitable broadcast television and digital media divisions of the old Gannett, while Gannett's publishing interests were spun off as a "new" company that retained the Gannett name. Tegna owns or operates 68 television stations in 54 markets, and holds properties in digital media.
Viaplay Group AB, formerly known as Nordic Entertainment Group AB, is a Swedish media and entertainment company headquartered in Stockholm.