Acquisition of DirecTV by AT&T

AT&T's history

The company to bear the name "AT&T" was founded on March 3, 1885, as American Telephone and Telegraph Company (or AT&T Corporation) by Theodore Newton Vail as a long-distance subsidiary of the Bell Telephone Company. By December 1899, the Bell Telephone's assets were transferred to AT&T, with the latter gaining control of the Bell System, a regional network of local telecom companies. Theodore Vail became AT&T's President in 1907 and under his leadership, AT&T gained a monopoly over the telephone sector in the United States. This near century dominance earned AT&T the nickname of "Ma Bell." In 1974, the U.S. Department of Justice sued AT&T on accounts of antitrust violations. AT&T challenged the lawsuit, but in 1982, it reached a settlement with the DOJ to break apart its Bell System monopoly into seven regional companies. On January 1, 1984, the Bell System came to an end and led to a reshaped telecom industry.

One of these regional companies, Southwestern Bell, emerged as the smallest, but after the passage of the 1996 Telecom Act, deregulated telecom rules allowed SBC to become a major telecom company. AT&T briefly became the largest cable and broadband company by the end of the 20th Century, but later deconsolidated to exit those industries. In 2005, SBC acquired its former parent, AT&T, and took on its branding as AT&T Inc, while retaining its previous business history. The newly reincorporated AT&T acquired BellSouth in 2006 and reconstituted much of its former Bell System.

DirecTV's history