Sky PerfecTV, Japan’s top satellite broadcaster, said Monday it had reached a basic accord to take over rival operator DirecTV from Hughes Electronics Corp. of the United States.
But Sky PerfecTV, run by Japan Digital Broadcasting Service, declined to discuss details of the deal.
“We are not at a stage of disclosing every detail, as the deal is subject to approval at a Hughes board meeting,” a Sky PerfecTV official said.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said that Hughes, DirecTV’s largest shareholder, planned to liquidate the unit after it transfers its subscribers to Sky PerfecTV.
The US firm will then inject about 10 percent capital into Sky PerfecTV by subscribing to part of a planned private allotment of new shares worth nine billion yen (82 million dollars), the business daily said.
Hughes will also call on other DirecTV shareholders, including Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., to agree to the deal, the newspaper said.
At the end of last month, DirecTV had 400,000 subscribers, only a quarter of its break-even figure, while Sky PerfecTV had 1.66 million.
Sky PerfectTV is owned 11.375 percent each by Sony Corp., Fuji Television Network Inc., trading house Itochu Corp., Internet investor Softbank Corp. and Australia’s News Corp.
In the year to last March, Sky PerfecTV posted losses of 45.1 billion yen on sales of 17.5 billion yen.
