AT&T acquires DirecTV after FCC approval

The FCC announced today the approval of the “transfer of control of licenses and authorizations” from broadcast satellite service provider DirecTV to veteran telecommunications company AT&T.

“The approval will allow AT&T to acquire DirecTV and merge the two companies into one combined entity. An Order detailing the Commission’s reasoning and the conditions will be issued shortly,” says the FCC via a press release. “The Commission’s decision is based on a careful, thorough review of the record, which includes extensive economic analysis and documentary data from the applicants, as well as comments from interested parties.”

AT&T has also informed it has completed the acquisition of DirecTV, becoming the largest pay-TV provider in the United States with 26 million customers, and worldwide with more than 191 million customers in Latin America specifically.

However, the FCC established certain conditions AT&T-DirecTV must follow for the next four years:

• Expansion of high-speed, fiber optic broadband net access to 12.5 million clients, and gigabit service to E-rate eligible schools and libraries where the new AT&T-DirecTV offers FTTP service.
• Prohibition of discriminatory practices to services that distribute online video. The FCC may monitor this new company to make sure AT&T-DirecTV completes this condition.
• Discount of broadband services to low-income subscribers.

“Combining DIRECTV with AT&T is all about giving customers more choices for great video entertainment integrated with mobile and high-speed Internet service,” stated Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO. “We’ll now be able to meet consumers’ future entertainment preferences, whether they want traditional TV service with premier programming, their favorite content on a mobile device, or video streamed over the Internet to any screen.”

[Sources]: FCC: FCC grants approval of AT&T-DirecTV transaction; DirecTV: AT&T completes acquisition of DirecTV; AT&T: Welcome to the Future of TV.