Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen still believes a merger of his company’s satellite operations with those of AT&T-owned DirecTV is “inevitable.” The timing, though, is unclear in his view.
“Is it one month from now or two years from now? I don’t know,” he said during a conference call with analysts and reporters to discuss Dish’s second-quarter results.
Ergen has floated the merger scenario numerous times in recent years, noting that antitrust regulators have indicated they were not ready to bless such a combination. But the satellite business is also shrinking dramatically. Dish reported 11.27 pay-TV subscribers as of June 30, which is off 6% from 2019, with about 9 million satellite subscribers.
