AT&T Is Maybe Going to Buy DirecTV for $50 Billion

According to reports, AT&T will take over satellite television company DirecTV in a deal that will be formally announced tomorrow.

According to reports, AT&T will take over satellite television company DirecTV in a deal that will be formally announced tomorrow. The unconfirmed marriage, which was the subject of rumors earlier this week, will reportedly be worth about $50 billion. Who's ready for the telling of the old joke about how it will be a wedding with no reception? Okay, there it went. 

So what's the deal here? Well, as it was noted earlier this week:

If completed, a deal would give AT&T, the country’s second-largest wireless carrier, control of the country’s largest satellite television provider, further reshaping the rapidly changing telecommunications and television industries." 

The deal also seems to be extraordinarily useful for AT&T since it seems to want to be more in the content game and having DirecTV's chain around their neck could give them some leverage as they negotiate video content. DirecTV shares flew up 12 percent this month over word that they were being pursued. More from today's report:

The deal would also, and perhaps more importantly for AT&T, provide the company access to DirecTV’s cash war chest, reported at $2.6 billion in free cash flow last year. That could fund new initiatives, or new acquisitions, for AT&T.

It would also show that AT&T, after being spurned by regulators in 2011 after it attempted to purchase T-Mobile, can love and dream big once again.