AT&T, DirecTV to merge in $49 billion deal
Facebook.com/ATT


On Sunday, AT&T announced it is acquiring DirecTV, gaining 20 million U.S. subscribers in a $49 billion deal.
AT&T will buy the company at $95 a share, The Washington Post reports, or $66.40 a share in AT&T stock and $28.50 a share in cash. Assuming the two giants join forces, they will be able to sell consumers bundles of phone, pay-TV, and high-speed internet. "This is very, very unique," AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said in a conference call. The deal "fulfills a vision that we've had for a couple of years... to take premium content and deliver it over multiple points for the consumer."
It is the latest large-scale merger in the telecommunications industry, a trend that worries some. "The industry needs more competition, not more mergers," says John Bergmayer of the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge. "We'll have to analyze this one carefully for potential harms both to the video programming and the wireless markets."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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