AT&T is selling shares of DirecTV for $7.6 billion, exiting the entertainment business, while DirecTV is buying Dish

AT&T is lowering the curtain on its entry into the entertainment business, selling its majority stake in satellite TV provider DirecTV to private equity firm TPG for $7.6 billion.

The deal announced Monday comes more than a decade after AT&T agreed to buy DirecTV for $48.5 billionan acquisition that should give the telecom giant a larger base of video subscribers and help it edge out competition.

But since then, the subscription TV business has been hit by exodus from “cord cutters,” customers who canceled their cable or satellite TV subscriptions in favor of streaming services like Netflix. In 2021, AT&T sold a 30% stake in the company to TPG in a deal worth $16.2 billion after losing millions of customers.

“This sale allows AT&T to continue to focus on being the leading 5G wireless and fiber connectivity company in America,” AT&T said in a statement on Monday.

AT&T's sale of the remaining 70% stake in DirecTV is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025. Both parties have the right to withdraw from the deal if it is not completed by Oct. 31, 2025, although the seller can pressure that deadline to be reset under certain conditions, New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin said in a report.

Separately, DirecTV announced it is acquiring satellite TV provider Dish from EchoStar, a deal that also includes Sling TV, for $1 plus the assumption of about $9.8 billion in debt.

AT&T shares rose slightly before the market opened on Monday.