“AT&T Inc. (T), joining the ranks of U.S. TV, Internet and wireless providers racing to consolidate, is in advanced talks to acquire DirecTV (DTV) for about $50 billion, according to people familiar with the matter,” Alex Sherman and Jeffrey McCracken report for Bloomberg News.
“Under the plan being discussed, management of DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite-TV provider, will continue to run the company as a unit of AT&T, said the people, asking not to be named because the information is private,” Sherman and McCracken report. “DirecTV Chief Executive Officer Mike White is likely to retire after 2015, the people said.”
“The purchase would give AT&T a national satellite-TV provider to combine with its wireless, phone and high-speed broadband Internet services as competition ramps up,” Sherman and McCracken report. “‘With DirecTV they are getting a national TV presence — they can sell TV with wireless nationwide,’ said Roger Entner, an analyst with Recon Analytics, based in Dedham, Massachusetts. ‘AT&T has increasingly been breaking out of their 22-state landline footprint. They sell wireless, they started selling home security and they could add TV to that package.'”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David E.” for the heads up.]