As satellite TV tanks, Dish says merger with DirectTV is “inevitable”

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Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen yesterday said a merger with the AT&T-owned DirecTV is "probably inevitable."

Dish, the second biggest satellite TV company behind DirecTV, lost 194,000 subscribers in Q4 2019 and ended the year with 11.99 million TV customers. That includes 9.4 million satellite TV customers and 2.59 million customers of Sling TV, Dish's online streaming service. The satellite division lost 100,000 subscribers while Sling TV lost 94,000.

On an earnings call yesterday, a financial analyst asked Ergen for his thoughts on a Dish/DirecTV merger, noting that DirecTV is "in increased trouble" and that the US government seems to have "amenability to large-scale transactions."

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