It was first rumored last week that AT&T is interested in acquiring DirecTV, one of the most popular satellite providers in the country. It was rumored that the carrier had reached out for a possible acquisition following Comcast’s decision to gobble up Time Warner Cable. We heard yesterday that the deal could be announced soon. AT&T today formally announced the acquisition of DirecTV for a staggering $48.5 billion in cash and stock.
The deal has already been approved by the board of directors of both companies. Federal regulators have yet to weigh in on the $95 per share deal but it doesn’t look like the acquisition will be held up for approval.
AT&T has also made several commitments, including one that clearly lays out that DirecTV’s service will continue to be available on a stand-alone basis at nationwide package prices that are the same for all customers for at least three years after the deal is closed.
With U-verse AT&T has tried to play a part in the cable market but it only has a small footprint. With DirecTV under its belt the company can now thing about giving up on U-verse altogether and shifting everyone to satellite TV, which ends up giving it more capacity for broadband. Future plans haven’t been fully detailed as of now so we’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out.