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Not really. The NFL has always wanted to have it limited in its American availability (the networks pay the league a lot of money, and the league doesn’t want to devalue those). And really this merger isn’t that big, DirecTV talks a big game, but they only have 20 million subscribers nationally. All this “anti-competition” monopoly talk is kind of silly. The big question is why is AT&T willing to fork over so much cash for this? I think it’s hardware more than anything.

DirecTV talks a big game, but they only have 20 million subscribers nationally.

Well, bear in mind that the entire US pay-TV subscriber base is about 80 million - families count as a single subscription. 20 million is also about how many subscribers Comcast has - in fact, DirecTV is just behind Comcast as the biggest TV provider in the US.

All this “anti-competition” monopoly talk is kind of silly.

I wish it were, but you're talking about merging the 2nd biggest TV provider with the 4th biggest provider. And this is on top of the proposed Comcast/Time-Warner merger and the simple fact that most of the US is already limited to a single choice for a cable operator.

The big question is why is AT&T willing to fork over so much cash for this? I think it’s hardware more than anything.

If the acquisition could take place today, it'd vault AT&T past Comcast to become the largest TV provider in the US. If the Comcast/Time-Warner merger goes through, AT&T will be well-positioned as the 2nd largest TV provider. That seems reason enough to me.