Grabbing roles on a deal that could reshape the U.S. media landscape, at least a dozen firms are advising on telecommunications giant AT&T’s proposed $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV, the nation’s largest satellite television operator.
Announced Sunday, the blockbuster deal comes some three months after cable giant Comcast announced that it had agreed to acquire Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion. Both of those megadeals follow a string of mass media and telecommunications mergers last year that included Verizon’s $130 billion purchase of Verizon Wireless from Vodafone and Sprint’s $22 billion sale to Japan’s SoftBank.
