https://variety.com/2019/biz/features/att-disney-comcast-debt-1203107407/
“Begley notes that AT&T — which has about $70 billion in BBB-rated debt that will come due over the next four to five years — is in a tight spot because of the company’s need to maintain investment-grade status and its commitment to paying a sizable annual dividend to shareholders. Simply put, AT&T cannot afford a downgrade for its bonds. Such a move would have a ripple effect throughout the credit markets.
“The high-yield market could not easily absorb that level of debt from one issuer,” Begley says. “That could cause market disruption in the speculative-grade world.”
And there’s this great comment:
“It was clear from the beginning that DirecTV was a bad transaction,” Moffett says. “They were buying an asset at an absurdly high price at what almost everybody understood to be its absolute peak. There was nowhere for DirecTV to go but down. Now they’re paying the price for an ill-advised DirecTV transaction.”