DirecTV agreed to buy the Dish satellite TV and Sling TV business for a nominal fee of $1, in exchange for taking on $9.75 billion of Dish debt. But DirecTV's deal announcement on Monday said the merger needs approval from Dish debt holders, who would see their investments devalued.

In this era of cord cutting the announced merger of DirecTV with Dish/Sling would result in 18 million subscribers, making it the largest pay-TV distributor

DirecTV announced Monday it’s buying rival Dish Network, ending multiple decades of on-and-off talks about the satellite services merging.

Credit ratings agency S&P Global notes the "linear TV industry is rapidly shrinking" and the increased scale provided by a merger may not offset subscriber declines.

Creditors to US satellite television firm Dish Network plan to block a distressed exchange that’s a key part of its tie-up with rival DirecTV, according to people familiar with the matter.