• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

DirecTV might merge with Dish by Monday

M

MadMan

Banned

DirecTV, Dish reportedly close to reaching a merger agreement​


nypost.com

DirecTV, Dish reportedly close to reaching a merger agreement — which could bring in more than 20M subscribers

DirecTV and Dish are in advanced talks to merge in a deal that could create the largest US pay-TV provider, with more than 20 million subscribers, according to multiple reports. The agreement could…
nypost.com nypost.com
DirecTV and Dish are in advanced talks to merge in a deal that could create the largest US pay-TV provider, with more than 20 million subscribers, according to multiple reports.

The agreement could be announced as early as Monday
 
MadMan said:
DirecTV and Dish are in advanced talks to merge in a deal that could create the largest US pay-TV provider, with more than 20 million subscribers, according to multiple reports.
Click to expand...

That is a telling figure ... at its peak, DirecTV alone had about 25 million subscribers, and Dish had 14 million.
 
MadMan said:
DirecTV and Dish are in advanced talks to merge in a deal that could create the largest US pay-TV provider, with more than 20 million subscribers, according to multiple reports.
Click to expand...
Does that 20M include streaming customers, or just satellite viewers?
 
KeithE4 said:
Does that 20M include streaming customers, or just satellite viewers?
Click to expand...
As of the fourth quarter of 2023, DirecTV had around 11.3 million subscribers in the United States. This includes subscribers to DirecTV's traditional satellite, cable, and internet-delivered DirecTV Stream service. Google AI

There is also Dish's Sling with almost 2 million subscribers that might be included in the final overall sub count?
 
Last edited:
Signal Geek said:
Makes sense for competitors to merge, with the market shrinking for satellite TV.
Click to expand...

Merging is not the solution. It's just fake "growth" and a big payday for the top executives. The new company will almost certainly double down on all the things that drove customers away from satellite and cable in the first place rather than doing what is obviously needed to make it more attractive.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
The new company will almost certainly double down on all the things that drove customers away from satellite and cable in the first place rather than doing what is obviously needed to make it more attractive.
Click to expand...

While I agree with the sentiment, I don't think the rate of "cord cutting" (admittedly, a strange phrase in the context) can be reversed now.

It's not DirecTV or Dish Network's fault, or even Cox, Spectrum, or Comcast's. The programming has gone downhill, and that trend has been happening for a very long time. I disconnected from DirecTV a good ten years ago and the main reason was that I was watching the non-broadcast networks less and less. At the time, I had a digital-to-analog converter alongside the satellite receiver and I was watching the retro diginets more than I was the ones I was paying for. (The last straw was when Time Warner took over the Dodgers games and then tried to extort a huge carriage fee for any other provider to carry them; DirecTV refused to "play ball", as it were, and while I didn't blame them it became "no Vin Scully, no subscriber".)

In my opinion, the programming on cable has gone further downhill in the decade since I left. This merger won't fix that.
 
Last edited:
boiseengineer said:
FTC and other regulators will be involved.
Will take a while before any merger actually happens.
Click to expand...

For sure but I'm figuring they are more likely to get approved this time. Before, there were large portions of the country that only had these two options. Now there are Sling, YouTubeTV, Hulu, Fubo, and others for linear channels as wells as dozens of other providers like Netflix, Disney+, and Prime for additional video content.
 
inari said:
For sure but I'm figuring they are more likely to get approved this time. Before, there were large portions of the country that only had these two options. Now there are Sling, YouTubeTV, Hulu, Fubo, and others for linear channels as wells as dozens of other providers like Netflix, Disney+, and Prime for additional video content.
Click to expand...

And what is ironic is that a lot of people using those streaming services get their broadband service from the same cable companies that they no longer subscribe to video service from.

Spectrum (my current provider, broadband only) actually promotes bundles now for internet/phone/mobile with video as an optional add-on.
 
Will_H_69_9 said:
and one of those cable/internet companies owns NBCUniversal.
Click to expand...

Good point. Outside of the radio/television industry and the financial community, I suspect very few "ordinary viewers" know about that part or Comcast's ownership portfolio.
 
It’s way too late now but perhaps the cable and satellite companies could have slowed the loss of subscribers if they offered more ala carte pricing in addition to bundles. People got pissed paying for channels they weren’t watching. But their contracts with Disney and other program providers probably prohibited this.
 
Larry said:
It’s way too late now but perhaps the cable and satellite companies could have slowed the loss of subscribers if they offered more ala carte pricing in addition to bundles. People got pissed paying for channels they weren’t watching. But their contracts with Disney and other program providers probably prohibited this.
Click to expand...
They can’t. The contracts they sign forbid it.
 
Larry said:
It’s way too late now but perhaps the cable and satellite companies could have slowed the loss of subscribers if they offered more ala carte pricing in addition to bundles. People got pissed paying for channels they weren’t watching. But their contracts with Disney and other program providers probably prohibited this.
Click to expand...

Don CT said:
They can’t. The contracts they sign forbid it.
Click to expand...

And that, ultimately, will be the reasons why the cable networks will eventually all go belly up.
 
CTListener said:
Not TV, not radio, not newspaper, not magazine. All being killed off by one thing: the internet.
Click to expand...

landtuna said:
The Internet includes: TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. Don't need four delivery methods any longer.
Click to expand...

I interpret the original comment as meaning that what had been broadcast and print are all being subsumed into online.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom