The long-awaited merger between DirecTV and Dish Network appears imminent and could be announced as early as September 30th, according to a report in the WSJ.

If an agreement is reached, the result would be the creation of the largest pay-TV operator in the US. Together, the pair would have some 20 million subscribers.

The report, however, says that it will be DirecTV, itself backed by AT&T, that would acquire Charlie Ergen-owned Dish.

The upside for Ergen is that it will put cash into his EchoStar pocket and a much-needed lifeline to settle some very pressing debt issues for EchoStar.

A merger between the DirecTV and Dish has been talked about for many years – first mooted in 2001 and turned down then by anti-trust regulators. Today’s broadcasting and streaming market is in a very different landscape and a merger is unlikely to run into regulatory problems.

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Categories: Articles, Business, M&A

Tags: charlie ergen, directv, dish, Echostar