In this era of cord cutting the announced merger of DirecTV with Dish/Sling would result in 18 million subscribers, making it the largest pay-TV distributor

DirecTV agreed to buy the Dish satellite TV and Sling TV business for a nominal fee of $1, in exchange for taking on $9.75 billion of Dish debt. But DirecTV's deal announcement on Monday said the merger needs approval from Dish debt holders, who would see their investments devalued.

DirecTV and Dish TV agreed to merge in a historic deal announced on Monday. The merger still needs to be approved by regulators, but if it is it would bring together two of the biggest satellite TV providers in the business with a total of 20 million subscribers in the U.

The merger of EchoStar's video businesses and DirecTV will also coincide with TPG agreeing to buy out the 70 percent of DirecTV that it does not own from AT&T.

DirecTV’s proposed takeover of rival Dish is an admission that the satellite-TV business is fading. Chief Executive Officer Bill Morrow has big ideas about what could come next.