According to Zhitong Finance, the usa satellite television provider DirecTV announced on Thursday that it has terminated the agreement to acquire the echostar (SAT.US) satellite television business, which includes its competitor Dish TV, due to the failure of the debt exchange proposal. DirecTV stated that the termination of the agreement will take effect on Friday. The CEO of DirecTV said, "We have terminated the trade because the proposed exchange terms are necessary to protect DirecTV's balance sheet and our operational flexibility."

This transaction was originally set to create one of the largest pay tv distributors in the usa, with 20 million subscribers. To facilitate the transaction, Dish's bondholders had to agree to convert their debt into new debt in the merged entity at a discount rate, effectively "writing down" about 1.57 billion dollars of debt. As part of the deal, DirecTV would pay 1 dollar to acquire the pay tv business named Dish DBS, which includes Dish and Sling TV, and take on approximately 9.75 billion dollars in Dish's debt. Media reported last week that a group representing about 85% of Dish's bondholders rejected the proposal.

The proposed transaction was initially announced last September and was seen as a strategic consolidation in the shrinking pay tv market. This deal would also provide a critical lifeline to echostar, which was co-founded by telecom entrepreneur Charlie Ergen and currently carries more than 20 billion dollars in debt. Over the years, DirecTV and Dish have been engaged in intermittent negotiations.