DirecTV clinches long-elusive deal to combine with Dish

DirecTV on Monday agreed to buy EchoStar’s satellite television business that includes Dish TV, capping decades of on-and-off talks to create one of the nation’s largest pay-TV distributors with a combined 20 million subscribers.The transaction comes at a time when satellite TV services DirecTV and Dish are hemorrhaging market share to competitors like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video, which have benefited from changing consumer habits and the rising popularity of streamed video.DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow told Reuters the combined pay TV company would have the clout to negotiate smaller programming packages tailored to consumers’ interests.It also plans to offer an improved viewer experience that makes it easier for subscribers to find their favorite shows – whether on a traditional TV channel or via streaming – and manage their subscriptions from one place.”We believe that consumers don’t want to be the aggregators – or at least a majority of consumers in the marketplace would not…