DirecTV Group, Liberty Media Announce Combination
The DirecTV Group and Liberty Media today announced they have entered into definitive agreements for the combination of DirecTV Group with Liberty Entertainment, a company to be split-off from Liberty Media.
The steps in the transaction include Liberty Media proceeding with the previously announced split-off of Liberty Entertainment, which will hold the majority of the assets and liabilities currently attributed to the Liberty Entertainment group tracking stock. LEI will now be comprised of approximately 54 percent of the common stock of DirecTV; Liberty Sports Holdings, which owns three regional sports networks; a 65 percent interest in Game Show Network and FUN Technologies; approximately $30 million in cash in addition to cash generated by operations after March 31; and $2 billion in debt. DirecTV will provide to LEI up to $650 million in funding pursuant to a term loan facility in order to service the LEI debt.