Satellite TV provider DirecTV (T, TPG) will no longer merge with rival Dish Network (SATS) after bondholders rejected the offer.
The deal, which was contingent on a key debt exchange, would have created one of the nation’s largest pay-TV providers. Both companies had discussed a possible combination more than two decades ago.
“While we believed a combination of DirecTV and Dish would have benefited all stakeholders, we have terminated the transaction because the proposed exchange terms were necessary to protect DirecTV’s balance sheet and our operational flexibility,” DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow said in a statement.
Shares in EchoStar, which owns Dish Network, fell by more than 4% on Friday following the news.
The deal would have helped aid EchoStar’s heavy debt load while also helping cut costs for the owners of DirecTV. AT&T spun off DirecTV in 2021, moving it into a joint venture with private equity investor TPG. At the time, it was valued at about $16 billion with the telecom giant taking a $15.5 billion impairment charge in 2020 to account for subscriber losses.
DirecTV was dealt yet another blow after it lost its coveted Sunday Ticket package to Alphabet’s YouTube TV (GOOGL, GOOG) in late 2022.
Amid those struggles, AT&T recently revealed it would sell its entire 70% stake to TPG for $7.6 billion in a move that allows the telecom operator to fully exit the TV business. That deal is still on.
AT&T previously had agreed to hold on to its stake in DirecTV for a three-year period, which expired on July 31.