Radnor, Pa. -- Pegasus Communications Corp. said last week
that it has completed a merger with Digital Television Services Inc. that was announced in
November. Before the merger, Pegasus and DTS were the No. 1 and No. 2 independent sellers
of DirecTv Inc.'s direct-broadcast satellite service.
As part of the deal, Pegasus issued 5.5 million shares of
common stock to DTS shareholders, valued at $140 million. The company is also assuming
$159 million in DTS debt to complete the transaction. And Pegasus will add three former
DTS directors to its board.
According to an prepared statement, the combined DBS
operations of the two companies serve about 330,000 DirecTv subscribers in 35 states --
nearly 10 percent of DirecTv's total U.S. subscriber base. The merger also gives
Pegasus access to a second call center to service the company's mostly rural
subscriber base.
