With an hour left in the trading day, the stock was up 9% at $28.08.
Dish and EchoStar merged last January.
Both media outlets also cautioned that the talks are not certain to bear fruit.
Dish Network and DirecTVJustin Sullivan/Getty Images
The spinoff valued DirecTV at $16 billion.
While it has shrunk from its previous stature, DirecTV remains a top-tier operator.
Another question will be how Washington regulators regard the deal.
The concept of the two major satellite players coming together has been in the ether for years.
Even if it were to prevail, though, the analyst has reservations.
Synergies, for example, are limited, he argued in a note to clients.
We are skeptical about pick-and-choose synergies in programming agreements, for example, Moffett wrote.
