AT&T To Acquire DirecTV? 20 Million Potential Customers On The Line

AT&T is looking to acquire DirecTV and gain 20 million customers in the process.

According to CNN Money, an AT&T/DirecTV buyout would give the new Comcast/Time Warner merger some serious competition — but the company would still rank #2. While DirecTV has 20 million TV subscribers and AT&T has 5.7 million subscribers, Comcast and TWC will end up with about 30 million subscribers, which will be hard to beat.

At this point, the only thing that AT&T needs is for the government to approve the merger. At the same time, neither of the companies would comment on the rumors — and that could be because nothing is really set in stone… yet.

While AT&T might be looking to acquire DirecTV, this isn’t their only option — and DirecTV has also been scoping out the market. Previously, DirecTV was thinking about a merger with Dish Network. AT&T was also looking to merge with T-Mobile, but that didn’t get very far. So now, joining a mobile carrier with a satellite carrier appears to be the way to go. Since these major mergers of companies that offer the same services seem to get denied (often due to monopolies), these companies have decided to go with something completely different — and this might just work.

As previously reported by Inquisitr.com,Google was actually looking to stir something up with The Dish Network back in 2012, but “Google Wireless” never happened — but that doesn’t mean it won’t. According to Digital Trends, Google has started renting data access from mobile giants Verizon and Sprint. It sounds like they are going to make a move in the not-so-distant future.

With giants like AT&T looking to expand, Google may find themselves ready to make a serious move. Companies that offer a trifecta of services (mobile, television, and home phone) like Verizon seem to run the game nowadays. Staying in said game will require some shifting and moving and if that means mergers, so be it. Companies who aren’t willing to change with the times will likely be left in the dust.

What people need to remember is that these mergers generally don’t negatively impact what customers already have for services. Most people will be “grandfathered in” so-to-speak but will always have an option of switching up their plans. New plans available from recently merged companies may be incredible with lots of money saving deals — because a merger of this magnitude needs all 20 million customers to stick around — and then some.

If AT&T was to acquire DirecTV, do you think it would be a smart move?

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