DirectTV to acquire Dish in new deal [Video]

On Monday, DirecTV announced that it would be acquiring its rival Dish Network, as years of talks about a merger finally come to fruition.

In a press release announcing the merger, the companies said a “combination of DirecTV and Dish will benefit US video consumers by creating a more robust competitive force in a video industry dominated by streaming services owned by large tech companies and programmers.”

If the merger ends up going through, the new service would boast a subscriber base of around 20 million.

“This strategic move is expected to provide customers with compelling video options and allow us to accelerate our vision for the future of TV,” the companies said in a post on X.

First founded in 1994, DirecTV was created by Hughes Electronics before it was bought by AT&T in 2015. It then sold half of the company to a private equity firm, TPG, in 2021 but sold the remaining half on …