Echostar gives up on DirecTV merger

The EchoStar and DirecTV merger is now extinct.

EchoStar had offered to make Cablevision a viable satellite competitor by giving it some satellite transponder space and even allowing Cablevision to use some of EchoStar’s facility in a bid to get the federal government to bless the EchoStar and DirecTV merger. In the end the deal collapsed.

Both the FCC and the Department of Justice had opposed the merger. EchoStar will have to pay Hughes Electronics a $600 million breakup fee. How will Echostar afford that? It’s sitting on $3.7 billion in cash.

For more information visit www.dishnetwork.com.

Back to the top

---