Kagan World Media estimated that Hughes, the General Motors division which owns DirecTV, is worth $45.9bn (£32.5bn), making DirecTV worth 60% of Hughes's total value.
Kagan expects that Hughes will demand between $5bn (£3.5bn) and $6bn (£4.3bn) in cash to complete the deal.
DirecTV recently cut its forecasts as a result of the global recession. It expects to add 1.3m net new subscribers this year, compared with earlier expectations of between 1.5m and 1.7m. It has 10m subscribers, compared with rival satellite broadcaster EchoStar's 6m.
EchoStar also hopes to acquire DirecTV, however Murdoch's News Corp is the current favourite.