Despite being in the closing stages of negotiations to sell satellite operator Hughes Electronics to News Corp, General Motors is giving "serious consideration" to an unsolicited $30 billion stock-swap offer from EchoStar Communications. EchoStar wants to merge its Dish Network with Hughes' market-leading DirecTV to create one US direct television broadcast system.
The EchoStar offer is being viewed as an attempt to derail News Corp's plans to acquire DirecTV and fill a gap in its Sky Global Networks worldwide satellite television system. Wall Street doubts that the deal would receive anti-trust approval.
Source: Flight International