Marco Caceres, an analyst with the Virginia-based Teal Group, said the new satellite may be built by France's Thales (TCFP.PA), which has already built several satellites for South Korea. The satellite was likely medium-sized and would cost several hundred million dollars to build, plus another $100 million to launch, he said.

Combining the consumer businesses with the world’s largest commercial satellite operator could raise significant antitrust issues, analysts said. “Of course this has regulatory red lights all over it,” said Marco Caceres, an analyst with the Teal Group, a Fairfax market-research firm. “Now you’re talking about companies basically having a monopoly within satellite broadcasting, making it really tough for newcomers to compete.”