AT&T to Buy DirecTV in $49 Billion Deal

 
AT&T agreed to buy DirecTV for $49 billion, creating a new pay-TV giant and giving AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson more clout with content companies as video moves to the Internet.

AT&T looked in the mammoth deal in the pay-TV space that will immediately boost the telecom giant’s customer base at a time of confounding industry challenges.

The merger, which both boards approved Sunday, is the latest evidence of TV-industry consolidation that underscores telecommunications companies’ desire to amass customers and control content and delivery.