DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — Terms of an EchoStar debt exchange are being sweetened for bondholders in the hope of completing Dish Network's multibillion-dollar merger into satellite TV rival DirecTV.
Douglas County-based EchoStar, parent to the Dish Network and Sling TV video brands and Boost Mobile phone network, this week made public the terms of new debt notes meant to be more lucrative to bondholders. The changes are meant to entice them to exchange $9.5 billion worth of existing Dish Network debt coming due over three years starting in 2026 for new, longer-term debt that would be repaid by the post-merger DirecTV.
The company offered to increase the principal amount to be repaid on three of the notes, adding between 8.2%, 8.8% and 10% to the principal amounts, respectively.
"The revised exchange terms represent DIRECTV’s interest in the successful completion of the transaction, which we believe is in the best interest of all parties," a DirecTV spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
> Read the full story at the Denver Business Journal.
