DirecTV agreed to buy the Dish satellite TV and Sling TV business for a nominal fee of $1, in exchange for taking on $9.75 billion of Dish debt. But DirecTV's deal announcement on Monday said the merger needs approval from Dish debt holders, who would see their investments devalued.

In this era of cord cutting the announced merger of DirecTV with Dish/Sling would result in 18 million subscribers, making it the largest pay-TV distributor

The merger of EchoStar's video businesses and DirecTV will also coincide with TPG agreeing to buy out the 70 percent of DirecTV that it does not own from AT&T.

DirecTV’s proposed takeover of rival Dish is an admission that the satellite-TV business is fading. Chief Executive Officer Bill Morrow has big ideas about what could come next.