DirecTV sale decision is imminent

October 24, 2001

How long?

1 minute

DirecTV sale decision is imminent

NEW YORK - The decision over the sale of US satellite broadcaster DirecTV could be made as early as the weekend, as reports are circulating that the General Motors board is set to meet to conclude the deal.

GM is looking at two bids for its Hughes Electronics subsidiary, the satellite TV company that owns DirecTV.

One bid is from Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, seen as a safe but margin-reducing bet. The other is from rival US satellite TV company EchoStar Communications, which has bid $27bn (£18.9bn) for Hughes.

DirecTV is the US's largest satellite broadcaster with more than 10m subscribers compared with EchoStar's 6m subscribers.

Yesterday, EchoStar posted an unexpected profit for its third quarter. It recorded a net profit of $3.1m (£2.2m), compared with a net loss of $142m (£99.4m) for the same three-month period finishing September 30 the year before.

Its revenues were the highest it has recorded, up 46% to $1bn (£700m). EchoStar's shares, listed on Nasdaq, were slightly down yesterday, by 0.3% to close at $26.07 (£18.25).