Liberty, DirecTV to merge

Satellite operator DirecTV is about to play a more prominent role in John Malone's Liberty Media empire. Liberty Media said Monday it will merge its DirecTV Group subsidiary with a clutch of assets from its Liberty Entertainment unit to form a separate publicly traded entity named DirecTV. The assets merging with DirecTV include Liberty's 65% share in cable channel GSN, three regional sports cable channels and Fun Technologies. The new DirecTV will absorb $2 billion in debt, which will be paid off in part by a $650 million loan from the satellite company. Liberty Entertainment's remaining assets, including the Starz channels, will be spun off into another publicly traded entity dubbed Liberty Starz. There was speculation Monday on CNBC that the maneuvering was a bid by DirecTV to streamline its ownership structure to facilitate a merger or acquisition with a non-Liberty-owned entity down the road.