America’s most powerful non-profit—the NFL—could ruin the AT&T-DirecTV deal
DirecTV shares are down about 2% this morning, which is a surprise, because yesterday the company agreed to be bought by AT&T in a blockbuster deal worth $48.5 billion. In early-morning trading, the stock was hovering around the $85 mark, which is about 11% below AT&T’s bid price (which works out to $95 per share).
Why? In a word, American football.
Investors are worried that the deal will collapse if DirecTV is unable to renew its exclusive rights to broadcast every National Football League match on Sundays. DirecTV currently pays an estimated $700 million a season for the “NFL Sunday Ticket” packages. But the existing deal expires at the end of 2014, and AT&T has the right to walk away from the purchase if it isn’t renewed.
On the conference call this morning, DirecTV CEO Mike White tried to reassure investors that the network wouldn’t lose the Sunday Ticket rights.
Keep reading America’s most powerful non-profit—the NFL—could ruin the AT&T-DirecTV deal – Quartz.
