DirecTV shareholders have approved the AT&T acquisition

As expected, shareholders of DirecTV voted in favor of AT&T’s acquisition of the satcaster, in a deal worth about $48.5 billion. The proposed deal is still pending regulatory reviews and approvals by the Department of Justice and the FCC; the companies anticipate the merger to close in the first half of 2015. At a special meeting of DirecTV shareholders Thursday, more than 99% of votes cast were in favor of the adoption of the merger agreement, representing 77% of all outstanding shares, according to the satcaster. Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of the telco’s mobility division, speaking at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia conference earlier this month, called out new opportunities for AT&T and DirecTVto create new service bundles, including a combo fixed-wireless broadband service with satellite TV.