Transcription:
Conway Gittens: This is Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. This is what we are seeing today on TheStreet.
Inflation is the focus this Wednesday. Consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in October as expected. Prices increased 2.6 percent from a year earlier. More than half of that price increase is tied to housing costs, which have risen 4.9 percent in the past 12 months. Wall Street believes inflation is stable enough for the Federal Reserve to continue lowering interest rates.
Related: What the DirecTV and Dish Network merger means for existing customers
In other news, time is running out for the 8 million people who still use DISH TV and Sling TV as video services. A deal that would have sold both EchoStar-owned units to satellite TV provider DirecTV could be scrapped. Without the financial muscle of DirecTV, Dish and Sling won't have the money to keep up with the changing media landscape.
The original acquisition plan announced in September depended on Dish debtholders accepting a $1.5 billion haircut on the value of their investment. However, a group of those debtholders rejected a proposed offer on the table. DirecTV says that if those debtholders don't agree, it “will have no choice but to complete the Dish acquisition by midnight on November 22.”
There were high hopes for the DirecTV-Dish merger, which would have created the country's largest pay-TV company with more than 18 million subscribers. The combination would have given all parties involved some clout at a time when traditional cable TV subscribers are fleeing in search of cheaper streaming services. Since 2016, DirecTV and Dish have seen 63 percent of their subscriber base disappear.
Without DirecTV, Dish will have trouble going it alone, as it is more than $20 billion in debt, in a media world where content is expensive and subscriber money is increasingly difficult to come by.
That will be enough for your daily report. From the New York Stock Exchange, I'm Conway Gittens of TheStreet.
Watch ICYMI this week:
- 401(k) and IRA Contribution Limits for 2025: What You Need to Know
- Donald Trump's victory adds billions to the wallets of the world's richest
- Buying a new car is becoming unaffordable
- Why Palantir Stock Is a 'Generational' Play
