AT&T to announce DirecTV acquisition on Sunday: BuzzFeed

CHICAGO (Reuters) - AT&T Inc is set to announce on Sunday it is acquiring top U.S. satellite TV operator DirecTV, news website BuzzFeed said, in a deal expected to be worth nearly $50 billion.

A spokeswoman for AT&T said the firm would make no comment on the report. DirecTV did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AT&T has been in active discussions to buy DirecTV for nearly $50 billion, or low to mid-$90s per share, and has been working to finalize a deal in the next few weeks, Reuters reported last Monday.

Citing a source close to DirecTV, BuzzFeed said that DirecTV chief executive Mike White has told senior executives a deal had been reached and would be announced Sunday.

The deal would combine the largest U.S. satellite provider and the country's No. 2 wireless carrier, expanding AT&T's customer base to 20 million from its U-verse fiber product, which has about 5.7 million video customers and 10.4 million high-speed Internet customers.

The transaction would expand AT&T's reach and allow it to bundle new services, and DirecTV would produce cash flows that could help support the company's dividend.

"AT&T just upped the ante," said Roger Entner, lead analyst at Recon Analytics, referring to the BuzzFeed report. "They have become an even more integrated telecom provider and are no longer tied to their U-Verse footprint."

Yet many investors have still questioned why AT&T, itself facing slowing growth, would buy DirecTV at a time when U.S. satellite TV subscriptions have flattened.

The proliferation of web-based television services could worsen that problem in the coming years.

Reuters reported this week that AT&T is working with investment bank Lazard Ltd in its talks for a potential takeover of DirecTV.

(Reporting By Nick Carey and Marina Lopes; Editing by Frances Kerry)