DirecTV Is Buying Dish for $1, Joining a Rare Club of Properties Sold for One Buck
variety.comTodd Spangler NY Digital Editor DirecTV will write a check for one whole U.S. dollar — 100 cents — to buy onetime rival Dish Network and its Sling TV business.
Of course, that’s not the only financial component of the transaction, which would create the largest U.S. provider in the declining pay-TV industry with around 18 million customers.
DirecTV will take on about $9.75 billion of debt that’s currently on the books of Dish parent company EchoStar. Effectively, EchoStar is giving away its shrinking satellite and streaming TV business in order to get rid of a huge chunk of debt, so it can focus on building out a wireless services play.
Why does DirecTV’s deal for Dish even include the “nominal consideration” of $1? For one thing, transactions often require some type of payment to become legally binding.
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