Shares of Dish, DirecTV surge on reports of merger

The Associated Press

Published: March 26, 2014 2:13 pm
This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Los Angeles • Shares of satellite TV companies Dish and DirecTV surged in midday trading Wednesday after a report said that Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen had contacted DirecTV CEO Mike White about merging.

Bloomberg News reported Ergen initiated the discussion in response to Comcast Corp.'s pending $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc., which was announced last month. The news service cited several unnamed sources.

Dish Network Corp. spokesman Bob Toevs declined to comment. DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer said the company doesn't comment on speculation.

Dish shares rose $4.67, or 8 percent, to $63.09, while DirecTV shares rose $4.88, or 6.7 percent, to $78.05.

Dish is based in Englewood, Colo., and DirecTV is based in El Segundo, Calif.

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