Why the AT&T-DirecTV Deal Is the Dumbest, Most Wasteful Deal Ever (at Least Since Comcast–Time Warner Cable)

[Commentary] AT&T just announced that it is buying DirecTV, the nation’s top satellite-TV company, for a total transaction value of $67.1 billion (that’s $48.5 billion in cash and equity, plus $18.6 billion in debt).

For this kingly sum AT&T gets a satellite-only company with declining profits and no physical assets located here on planet Earth. This is by far the dumbest, most wasteful deal ever. (Well, at least since Comcast announced its plans to buy Time Warner Cable.)

These two takeovers are a perfect illustration of everything that’s wrong with America’s telecommunications market. Case in point: For the total price of these two mega-deals, $67 billion, AT&T and Comcast could collectively deploy super-fast gigabit-fiber broadband service to every single home in America.