In October of 2001, Dish Network and Direct TV made a very serious attempt at joining forces with one another which would have given these two Satellite TV providers a huge monopoly in the satellite TV industry, however, the US Department of Justice took a bold face stance and blocked the merger.

If the merger between Dish Network and Direct TV would have taken place, the new company would serve the entire US without fear of any competition, resulting in a complete monopoly position that is not allowed. As we all know, competition spurs competitive pricing and continuous progress and a merger of this magnitude would basically result in less progress and the possibility of inflated prices.

At the present time Dish network and Direct TV are the only two satellite TV providers in America, a merger between the two would reduce this to just one company, which clearly is a dangerous monopoly situation for consumers at hand. Even in areas with cable TV the merger would result in just 2 television broadcasting providers, of which each has a monopoly on its own technology.

In their application, Dish Network and Direct TV claimed that their joining of forces was necessary to compete against the cable TV Giants. However, at the time of said application, statistics indicated that satellite TV was growing at an incredibly fast pace while cable TV subscriptions were on the decline.

Over all it seemed that without any other satellite TV providers a merger between Dish Network and Direct TV would not be in the public