AT&T to acquire DirecTV for $49 billion

AT&T announced Sunday that it was acquiring DirecTV in a $49 billion deal that would create a telecom and television behemoth to rival cable firms - while raising fresh concerns over competition and options for consumers.

AT&T would gain DirecTV's 20 million U.S. subscribers, a company with strong cash flows and an ability to fatten its bundle of offerings. The combined firm would be able to offer phone, high-speed Internet, and paid television subscriptions to more customers - packages cable firms such as Comcast have sold most successfully.

AT&T has agreed to acquire DirecTV for $95 a share, made up of $28.50 a share in cash and $66.50 a share in AT&T stock. AT&T says it expects to close the acquisition within 12 months.

The deal is the latest mega merger to be announced this year in a dramatically shifting telecommunications industry. The titans of the industry have recently rushed to bulk up - in overall size and in diversity of service offerings - as their legacy phone and television businesses have frayed and consumers have turned to the Internet for communication and entertainment.

The deals, which must be approved by federal regulators, have prompted new concern that consumers could be left with fewer options and even higher prices after years of creeping increases in monthly bills. In 2012, U.S. cable television prices increased 5.1 percent, to an average of $64, triple the rate of inflation, according to a government report.

"The industry needs more competition, not more mergers," said John Bergmayer, a senior staff lawyer at Public Knowledge, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. "We'll have to analyze this one carefully for potential harms both to the video programming and the wireless markets."

After a failed attempt three years ago at buying wireless provider T-Mobile, AT&T was searching for alternative acquisitions. But its choices were limited, with regulators expressing great concern that the wireless and high-speed-Internet markets were not competitive enough.

The Dallas-based company said it would gain broad strategic benefits from buying the nation's second-largest paid-television provider. The phone giant would have greater power with television programmers to bring down licensing costs. And as the nation's second-largest wireless carrier, it could use its new prominence in the television industry to bring videos to its mobile customers. DirecTV, based in El Segundo, Calif., has exclusive contracts with programmers, including NFL Sunday Ticket, which allows football fans to watch their favorite teams even if they live outside the local television markets serving the teams.

AT&T's chairman and chief executive, Randall Stephenson, said the deal would create a national wireless, video, and broadband Internet powerhouse. He added that with such reach, the merger would allow the company to bring valuable television content to any device for its consumers.

"This is very, very unique," Stephenson said in a conference call Sunday evening. The deal "fulfills a vision . . . to take premium content and deliver it over multiple points."

AT&T would purchase a business that is not a significant, direct competitor. AT&T's cablelike television service, U-Verse, has 5.7 million subscribers.

A rush to supersize has been driven by low interest rates - allowing acquisitions to be financed more cheaply - and the realization that the most successful telecom firms of the future will have the greatest scale. With more subscribers, telecom and cable firms are able to control costs with programming partners and invest in improvements to networks that allow for faster broadband Internet speeds, analysts say.

In February, Comcast announced a $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable. The deal, being reviewed by federal regulators, would combine the nation's top two cable and broadband Internet providers. Though no deal has been announced, the owners of Sprint have publicly expressed interest in buying T-Mobile in a merger that would combine the third- and fourth-largest national carriers.

"It's a counterpunch to Comcast-Time Warner Cable," said Paul Gallant, an analyst at Guggenheim Securities. "DirecTV and AT&T both felt new urgency to scale up and find new ways to compete."

Because AT&T and DirecTV don't significantly compete in the television market, analysts say, regulators may be more willing to approve the deal.

AT&T said it would volunteer to bring high-speed Internet services to 15 million homes in rural areas within four years if the deal is approved. It has also promised to abide by net neutrality principles for three years by, for instance, agreeing not to block any sites.