DirecTV and Dish Network , longtime satellite TV adversaries, are set to merge. DirecTV announced a deal Monday with Dish parent company EchoStar to acquire Dish in a deal valued at nearly $10 billion — which would create the U.S.’s largest pay-TV provider.

Under the terms of the purchase agreement, DirecTV will acquire EchoStar’s video distribution business, including Dish TV and Sling TV, in exchange for a “nominal consideration” of $1 (yes, one dollar) — plus the assumption of the Dish unit’s net debt with a total face value of approximately $9.75 billion. The companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Additionally, AT&T announced that it will sell its 70% stake in DirecTV to TPG, the private-equity firm holding a 30% stake in the operator, for $7.6 billion. This transaction is expected to be finalized in the second half of 2025; AT&T and TPG clarified that this deal is not contingent on the completion of the DirecTV-Dish merger.

The deal is subject to approval from U.S. regulators, including antitrust clearance. Industry experts anticipate that the merger of DirecTV and Dish will likely gain regulatory approval, considering the significant decline in the traditional pay-TV market as consumers have shifted towards streaming services.

Together, DirecTV and Dish would have nearly 20 million subscribers, which is roughly half of their peak levels. DirecTV service had an estimated 11.3 million subscribers (including AT&T U-verse TV) as of the end of 2023, according to estimates from Leichtman Research Group, compared with a peak of 25.5 million at the end of 2016. Dish, which once had over 14 million customers, ended the second quarter of 2024 with 8.07 million pay-TV subscribers (including 6.07 million for Dish TV and 2 million for Sling TV).

Upon completion of the Dish acquisition, DirecTV will continue to be led by CEO Bill Morrow and CFO Ray Carpenter. The combined company's headquarters will be in El Segundo, California (where DirecTV is currently headquartered).

Morrow, in announcing the deal, stated, “With increased scale, we anticipate a combined DirecTV and DISH will be better equipped to collaborate with programmers to realize our vision for the future of television, which is to aggregate, curate, and distribute content tailored to customers’ preferences, and to be better positioned to achieve operational efficiencies while creating value for customers through additional investments.”

DirecTV launched in 1994 and Dish followed in 1996, both satellite TV companies presenting significant competition to established cable TV providers. However, over the past decade, both have experienced a substantial decline in subscriber numbers (along with traditional cable TV) as the rise of streaming services has led to a mass exodus from the sector. While DirecTV and Dish have introduced internet-based pay-TV packages, these have not been sufficient to offset the losses on the satellite side.

Past proposals for a merger between DirecTV and Dish, dating back to 2001, have faced regulatory challenges. However, today, “It’s unlikely that regulators would block the deal,” MoffettNathanson principal analyst Craig Moffett wrote in a September 16 note to clients. “It's better to have one [satellite TV operator] than none.”

EchoStar stated that the deal will “relieve a significant portion of EchoStar’s financial burdens”, allowing them to focus on expanding their 5G wireless network and strengthening their Boost Mobile brand as “the fourth facilities-based carrier in the U.S.”

DirecTV estimates that the combination with Dish could generate annual cost savings of at least $1 billion (in the third year after the merger). According to Moffett, operational synergies between DirecTV and Dish would “likely be more limited than expected” and he indicated that the merger would have a minimal impact on the industry's overall path. For instance, the two companies do not have overlapping satellite fleets due to different video scrambling technologies.

By merging, DirecTV and Dish aim to gain a stronger position in negotiations with content providers. This month, following a dispute with Disney, Disney channels like ESPN and ABC were unavailable on DirecTV for 13 days; on September 14, the two sides agreed on a deal that includes bundling options for DirecTV customers to access Disney's new streaming services.

“It’s hard to argue against a merger; it clearly makes sense,” Moffett wrote in the Sept. 16 note. “Consolidation during a period of steady decline is expected. However, it would be a mistake to overestimate its significance. Extending the expected lifespan of satellite TV by a year or two won’t change the narrative for programmers, distributors, or even for satellite TV itself.”

AT&T, which acquired DirecTV in 2014 , three years ago divested the satellite TV provider , retaining a 70% stake while private-equity firm TPG Capital holds the remaining 30%.

Two years ago, DirecTV faced a setback when it lost its exclusive rights to broadcast the NFL's Sunday Ticket premium games package, a deal it had held since 1994. Google secured a seven-year agreement with the NFL to sell the package through YouTube, beginning with the 2023-24 season. Currently, Sunday Ticket includes all out-of-market regular-season NFL games that are broadcast on Fox and CBS.