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DirecTV might merge with Dish by Monday

DavidEduardo said:
What we are discussing is where you have to pay, for example, for the "whole" Disney set of channels, whether you use them or not. I use this example because I have to pay about $20 a month for my cable service for the sports channels I never ever use. That will be the main reason why, in upcoming decisions about entertainment services, cable will be the first to go. Second, for similar reasons, will be the Disney on-demand service.
Click to expand...

Textbook example of how the cable and entertainment services essentially created a setup to eventually shoot themselves in the foot, and now, having done so, reload the gun and repeat the same behavior that caused the first bullet hole.
 
DavidEduardo said:
This is about bundled groups of channels on a video service, not bundled services like cable/web/landline from a service provider.

What we are discussing is where you have to pay, for example, for the "whole" Disney set of channels, whether you use them or not. I use this example because I have to pay about $20 a month for my cable service for the sports channels I never ever use. That will be the main reason why, in upcoming decisions about entertainment services, cable will be the first to go. Second, for similar reasons, will be the Disney on-demand service.
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I have internet/DirecTV and wireless through ATT..When TPG takes over will I have to unbundle all my stuff. I like having one bill, not 3 or more.
 
K.M. Richards said:
That would make the deal much more attractive to AT&T, which still owns 70% of DirecTV.
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AT&T doesn't own Direct anymore. Paid $48.5 billion sold it to TPG in two transactions for $23.8 billion total. OUCH!!

It will be interesting to read the annual AT&T report. How do you explain a $24.7 billion loss.

Now if they can scoop up Echostar's cellular frequencices at a discount in a separate transaction, it might work out in the long run, but I am pretty sure there would be regulators involved so this might not work either.
 
secondchoice said:
AT&T doesn't own Direct anymore. Paid $48.5 billion sold it to TPG in two transactions for $23.8 billion total. OUCH!!

It will be interesting to read the annual AT&T report. How do you explain a $24.7 billion loss.

Now if they can scoop up Echostar's cellular frequencices at a discount in a separate transaction, it might work out in the long run, but I am pretty sure there would be regulators involved so this might not work either.
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after yesterday they sold it to TPG...Before then ATT retained a 70% stake in DirecTV. I just hope they make this work because I'm not gonna buy a smart television or a jump drive to watch TV.
 
I saw "firesticks" 3rd gen." For 20 bucks a while ago. I can't remember which service my nephew uses but it was under $30 a month and he gets literally 100's of on the air stations in an out of market. I am hoping to find a firestick in my stocking the Christmas.
 
secondchoice said:
AT&T doesn't own Direct anymore. Paid $48.5 billion sold it to TPG in two transactions for $23.8 billion total. OUCH!!

It will be interesting to read the annual AT&T report. How do you explain a $24.7 billion loss.
Click to expand...

There has to be some behind the scenes logic that isn't apparent to us.

secondchoice said:
Now if they can scoop up Echostar's cellular frequencices at a discount in a separate transaction, it might work out in the long run, but I am pretty sure there would be regulators involved so this might not work either.
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I still don't see why Echostar has just been sitting on that spectrum. Charlie Ergen must have some kind of plan in mind.
 
boiseengineer said:
As usual, AT&T made DirecTVs spiral down faster. Customer service after they took over was in my experience nasty.
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That was more a case of SBC, pre-merger. than anything that happened afterwards.

At Pacific Telesis Group (Pacific Bell/Nevada Bell/Cingular Wireless), the instant SBC took over the focus switched from serving the customer to "what can we sell them when they call in with questions about their bill?" and reps who couldn't adjust to the new model got lower performance ratings which were then used as a basis for termination.

You don't want to know how I know this.
 
secondchoice said:
I saw "firesticks" 3rd gen." For 20 bucks a while ago. I can't remember which service my nephew uses but it was under $30 a month and he gets literally 100's of on the air stations in an out of market. I am hoping to find a firestick in my stocking the Christmas.
Click to expand...
I just bought a 4th Gen Firestick. 4K-Ultra, 16 Gb storage, $35 at Best Buy. It's fast and responsive, and picture quality is excellent. Tons of channels, apps for the handful of streamers I'm already paying for. My biggest complaint is the difficulty in sorting the battleship-sized list of tiles into a subset that I actually want to watch. (Roku's a lot easier, and even that could be improved.) Compared to the cost of replacing my 8-year-old Samsung with a new DTV, this is a bargain.
 
Two more interesting facts in an article on the closing in the Los Angeles Times ...

AT&T acquired Dish for $1 plus assumption of $9.9 billion of Dish’s debt.
Ergen owns Boost Mobile, the expansion of which is apparently what he intends to do with the bandwidth not included in this deal.

www.latimes.com

DirecTV to acquire Dish Network, Sling TV for $1

The deal would provide a loan to Dish parent EchoStar Communications and also prompt the departure of AT&T from its ownership of DirecTV.
www.latimes.com www.latimes.com
 
Weiserguy said:
I've dealt with them for decades. AT&T doesn't do logic, they do process. SBC layers on unconstrained greed and Texas-sized arrogance.

A fun time is had by none.
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I'm the guy who sent out Quarters to lucky Pacific & Nevada Bell payphone users when I wasn't quoting A T & T charges to hotels. Looking back on yesterdays technology, wild!
 
K.M. Richards said:
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.
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I mean, at this juncture cable channels are essentially marathons of the same thing, day in and out.

The last time I checked, MTV was airing “Ridiculousness” for a week straight. Comedy Central merely airs reruns of “The Office”, “South Park”, and “Seinfeld”, for HOURS and hours daily; SYFY airs the same six movies over and over and over again, tons not even in that genre (as “channel drift” has long been cemented in cable for longer than a decade now).

I don’t see linear disappearing for a while (we’ve all surmised it’s not a matter of if but when), but it’ll probably be within the next ten years? Thoughts?
 

  • DirecTV Scraps Dish Acquisition as Bondholders Push Back on Satellite-TV Merger​


  • DirecTV said it has scrapped its acquisition of Dish Network, after decades of failed attempts at mergers by the two satellite rivals.
  • Bondholders of Dish and subsidiary DBS had pushed back on the terms parent EchoStar had agreed upon to clinch the deal.
  • DirecTV would have assumed billions of dollars of debt to take on Dish and create a merged pay-TV giant.
DirecTV said Thursday night it has scrapped its acquisition of Dish Network, after decades of failed attempts at mergers by the two satellite rivals.

www.investopedia.com

DirecTV Scraps Dish Acquisition as Bondholders Push Back on Satellite-TV Merger

DirecTV said it has scrapped its acquisition of Dish Network, after decades of failed attempts at mergers by the two satellite rivals.
www.investopedia.com www.investopedia.com
 
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