1- AT&T's overall financial situation is not helped by one part of its business model, namely, "buy high and sell low." DirecTV may become the latest example of that decades old "strategy."
2- Debt is one half of the balance sheet - assets are the other half. AT&T incurred that debt to acquire assets, so you have to look at the quality and value of the assets they got. Are those assets likely to produce a stream of revenue to service the debt incurred? I don't think sooooooooooo