DirecTV Agrees to Merge With Satellite Rival Dish

DirecTV agreed to buy Dish from owner EchoStar for a nominal $1, plus the assumption of roughly $9.8 billion in debt. That merger depends on an agreement with bondholders to write off about $1.6 billion of the Dish obligations as well as approval from multiple federal regulators. Merging Dish with DirecTV would bolster both brands’ profits as their customer bases erode. The deal would create the largest U.S. pay-TV distributor by subscribers, despite their falling trajectory, which would give executives more leverage to negotiate deals with channel owners.