DirecTV is buying Dish Network and Sling from Colorado-based EchoStar Corp.

Englewood-based EchoStar Corp. is facing a choice between investing more in its new wireless business, which needs additional capital and time to gain traction with consumers, or sticking with its legacy satellite and streaming TV services, which are generating money but shrinking income I decided to rely entirely on WiFi.

Longtime rival DirecTV said Monday it would pay $1 in EchoStar debt and raise $9.75 billion to acquire Dish Network and its streaming service Sling TV. That amount represents less than half of EchoStar’s $21.3 billion in net debt and will ease the pressure associated with a $2 billion payment due in mid-November.

While it’s not a fresh start, the debt reduction, combined with the funds the company has available or plans to raise, will give Boost Mobile more time to win over consumers and establish itself as the country’s fourth wireless carrier.

“They said we are an asset-rich but cash-poor company. We have a lot of opportunities to grow and develop, but we didn’t have enough money to develop them,” Hamid Akhavan, CEO and president of EchoStar, said in an interview with The Denver Post on Monday afternoon.

EchoStar has found a way to advance its wireless growth plans where most of its assets – wireless spectrum – are concentrated and where it sees the most potential, while also feeding the legacy satellite and streaming side of the business, which has been making steady losses registered subscribers, a better chance of survival, he said.

As a condition of the sale, EchoStar must raise $5.1 billion from investors for its wireless operations.

“Depending on how we use the money, we have two to three years of runway ahead of us,” Akhavan said.

For DirecTV, the merger should provide the scale needed to negotiate more favorable terms with content providers, he said.

EchoStar employs about 7,000 people in the Denver metro area, half of its total workforce of about 14,000. Of those, 2,400 in the Denver area specialize in cell phone services. If marketing efforts prove successful, the number of employees could increase over time.