AT&T To Buy DIRECTV for $67 Billion

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AT&T and DIRECTV Merger Looks Set to Complete Soon http://finance.yahoo.com/news/t-directv-merger-looks-set-194234478.html
AT&T Looks All Set to Complete Its Merger with DirecTV.....AT&T-DIRECTV set to win anti-trust approval....Bloomberg recently reported that the AT&T (T)–DIRECTV (DTV) deal, worth $67.1 billion, is set for clearance by anti-trust authorities. The merger has yet to gain approval from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). Bloomberg reported that the deal is set to clear without any conditions, such as following the FCC’s net neutrality rules.Early last year, AT&T announced its $67.1 billion acquisition of DIRECTV, a pay-TV provider that operates in the United States and Latin America. As the chart below indicates, the AT&T-DIRECTV acquisition would be the third-largest acquisition in the US telecom industry.
 
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AT&T agrees to offer low-cost Internet option to close the DirecTV deal http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/b...er-low-cost-internet-option-to.html?ana=yahoo
AT&T has agreed to offer a lower-priced Internet option to food stamp recipients for four years once the merger with DirecTV is approved.The move comes after the Federal Communications Commission expressed a desire for such an option from the combined company, according to a letter AT&T (NYSE: T) sent to the FCC on July 1.As a result, Dallas-based AT&T plans to offer a discount program that will offer broadband wireline DSL service at speeds up to 5 megabits per second for $10 per month for the first year. In areas where top speeds are currently below 5 megabits per second, the company will offer wireline DSL service at speeds up to 1.5 megabits per second for $5 per month within the first year. The costs will rise to $20 and $10, respectively, after the first 12 months.
 
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WASHINGTON -- The American Cable Association is taking its call for regional sports network-related conditions on the AT&T/DirecTV deal directly to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. In a letter to Tom Wheeler Thursday (July 9), 27 ACA members said they were "extremely concerned that following the completion of the AT&T and DirecTV merger, the combined company will charge us higher carriage fees for its Root Sports regional sports networks (“RSNs”) than the two could charge remaining as separate entities." They said they don't mind competing head to head with other distributors, but that they are "put in a bind when purchasing 'must have' RSN programming from direct rivals like DirecTV and AT&T." They also said that bind would factor into whether they would have sufficient capital to invest in broadband. They said that without conditions. including baseball-style arbitration of carriage disputes and an improved version of the FCC's non-discriminatory access remedy, the deal should be rejected. - See more at: http://www.multichannel.com/news/po...tions-att-directv/392056#sthash.8hGMQFbv.dpuf
 
WASHINGTON -- The American Cable Association is taking its call for regional sports network-related conditions on the AT&T/DirecTV deal directly to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. In a letter to Tom Wheeler Thursday (July 9), 27 ACA members said they were "extremely concerned that following the completion of the AT&T and DirecTV merger, the combined company will charge us higher carriage fees for its Root Sports regional sports networks (“RSNs”) than the two could charge remaining as separate entities." They said they don't mind competing head to head with other distributors, but that they are "put in a bind when purchasing 'must have' RSN programming from direct rivals like DirecTV and AT&T." They also said that bind would factor into whether they would have sufficient capital to invest in broadband. They said that without conditions. including baseball-style arbitration of carriage disputes and an improved version of the FCC's non-discriminatory access remedy, the deal should be rejected. - See more at: http://www.multichannel.com/news/po...tions-att-directv/392056#sthash.8hGMQFbv.dpuf
Sounds like a company that is now starting to get worried about this merger .... they won't be able to compete ... give me a break.

It seems that EVERY company is gonna want "Conditions" on ATT, why, because they can't compete, your gonna find many companies hoping for anything they can think of to derail this merger ... sounds like a lot of whining to me.
 
Sounds like a company that is now starting to get worried about this merger .... they won't be able to compete ... give me a break.

It seems that EVERY company is gonna want "Conditions" on ATT, why, because they can't compete, your gonna find many companies hoping for anything they can think of to derail this merger ... sounds like a lot of whining to me.

I actually think this is exactly what the FCC is afraid of, this merger resulting in less competition. No question much of the requests are purely throwing complaints against the wall and seeing what will stick. But Sports is a huge sore spot, with the exclusivity questions, and demanding everyone pay. (Not being in a separate package) I would not be surprised if this does get some attention.
 
I'm conflicted. I would like to say have the FCC force sports channels to negotiate fairly if they want exclusivity contracts, or ban blackouts... But then I also hate government involvement and believe firmly in allowing business be business.
 
Nope. Your contract is still for DTV, and although ATT will own them, it will still be DTV.
Correct ....
I don 't know why people think that thier contract would be null and void.

Of course those are the ones that want nothing to do with att mostly or looking for a cheap way to get out of thier D* commitment.
 
I'm conflicted. I would like to say have the FCC force sports channels to negotiate fairly if they want exclusivity contracts, or ban blackouts... But then I also hate government involvement and believe firmly in allowing business be business.

And this is where the true problems lies......Some one needs to reel in giant corporations, for many reasons...This is were WE all lose out either way....We don't have our own lobbyists to protect the consumer....So K street wins, and we pay either way...
 
And this is where the true problems lies......Some one needs to reel in giant corporations, for many reasons...This is were WE all lose out either way....We don't have our own lobbyists to protect the consumer....So K street wins, and we pay either way...
Nailed it.
 
I think this ones about a done deal - there just isn't any competitive issues with the two merging. Only like product is U-Verse which is in limited areas, and pretty much those areas already have two other competitors, cable and dish.

It will be interesting to see how the synergies play out. Unlike many mergers this one isn't as much about cost savings as it is about sharing customers. Offer a discount to have both services (or 3 in some areas) and build that relationship.
 
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FCC Nears Approval of AT&T-DirecTV Merger http://variety.com/2015/biz/news/att-directv-fcc-merger-1201545108/
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that he is recommending approval of the AT&T merger with DirecTV with conditions, including provisions to prevent the combined company from discriminating against online video competition.The Department of Justice also has reviewed the deal and will not challenge it.“After an extensive investigation, we concluded that the combination of AT&T’s land-based internet and video business with DirecTV’s satellite-based video business does not pose a significant risk to competition,” Bill Baer, assistant attorney general of the Antitrust Division, said in a statement. “Our investigation benefited from the division’s close and constructive working relationship with the FCC. The commitments that the proposed FCC order includes, if adopted, will provide significant benefits to millions of subscribers.”The combined company will serve about 26 million TV customers.
 
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FCC chairman lays out conditions for AT&T/DirecTV approval order
Jul 21 2015, 18:50 ET | By: Jason Aycock, SA News Editor
http://seekingalpha.com/news/264383...or-at-and-t-directv-approval-order#email_link
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler confirms that an order has been circulated to agency commissioners recommending approval of AT&T's $49B purchase of DirecTV, with conditions.
If approved by the FCC, "2.5 million customer locations will have access to a competitive high-speed fiber connection," Wheeler writes. "This additional build-out is about 10 times the size of AT&T’s current fiber-to-the-premise deployment, increases the entire nation’s residential fiber build by more than 40 percent, and more than triples the number of metropolitan areas AT&T has announced plans to serve."
Two other key points: AT&T won't be able to exclude its affiliate video services from broadband data caps (which would give its own products a toll-free leg up), and will have to submit all completed interconnection agreements to the FCC, along with network performance reports.
Updated 7:05 p.m.: "We are pleased the Department of Justice has completed its review of our acquisition of DirecTV," says AT&T in its statement. "We look forward to gaining the approval of the Federal Communications Commission so we can quickly begin providing consumers with the benefits of this combination."
 
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