WILL DISH AND DIRECTV MERGE?

[radiojomo]

After reading the press release on Deadline Hollywood (http://www.deadline.com/2011/11/dish-network-misses-3q-earnings-targets-with-111000-drop-in-subs/) about the drop in subs, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen said this:

If the government allows AT&T to buy T-Mobile, “then I wouldn’t see any problem with us merging with DirecTV."

Clearly, the effect is clear and near. Dish and DIRECTV are facing even more competition than ever before from cable and IPTV (being able to offer TV service bundled with high speed internet) and the looming threat of Apple TV in a few years. Will they try to merge again even if AT&T and T-Mobile fail at merging? It seems like it would be fitting to give it another try business wise, in my opinion. They would make a better case than ever before.

 

[JeeperOne]

After reading the press release on Deadline Hollywood (http://www.deadline.com/2011/11/dish-network-misses-3q-earnings-targets-with-111000-drop-in-subs/) about the drop in subs, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen said this:

If the government allows AT&T to buy T-Mobile, “then I wouldn’t see any problem with us merging with DirecTV."

Clearly, the effect is clear and near. Dish and DIRECTV are facing even more competition than ever before from cable and IPTV (being able to offer TV service bundled with high speed internet) and the looming threat of Apple TV in a few years. Will they try to merge again even if AT&T and T-Mobile fail at merging? It seems like it would be fitting to give it another try business wise, in my opinion. They would make a better case than ever before.

NO WAY is this gonna happen. That would be like Clear Channel merging with CBS Radio (Networks & all)

Cheers & 73 ;D

 

[justpassingthough]

After reading the press release on Deadline Hollywood (http://www.deadline.com/2011/11/dish-network-misses-3q-earnings-targets-with-111000-drop-in-subs/) about the drop in subs, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen said this:

If the government allows AT&T to buy T-Mobile, “then I wouldn’t see any problem with us merging with DirecTV."

Clearly, the effect is clear and near. Dish and DIRECTV are facing even more competition than ever before from cable and IPTV (being able to offer TV service bundled with high speed internet) and the looming threat of Apple TV in a few years. Will they try to merge again even if AT&T and T-Mobile fail at merging? It seems like it would be fitting to give it another try business wise, in my opinion. They would make a better case than ever before.

NO WAY is this gonna happen. That would be like Clear Channel merging with CBS Radio (Networks & all)

Cheers & 73 ;D

I think a much better analogy is its like Sirius and XM merging, which of course, the Justice Department allowed. While there are only two satellite tv companies (like there were two satellite radio companies), they're in direct competition with cable companies, the telco's who offer cable, internet, etc and, most recently, the surge in users who have cut the cord and are using online services like Netflix. I see far fewer antitrust concerns with allowing Dish and DirecTV merge than merging CBS radio and Clear Channel.

The primary opposition would be from rural customers who may not have access to cable and telco companies offering similar services like most of us who live in the cities and suburbs have access to.

 

[recto101]

Well we let Comcast/Xfinity merge with TCI (Later AT&T cable) 10 years ago. We let local Cable companies merge in the past. and Directv merge with Primstar in the 1990's?

 

[Bill_W]

They tried to merge in 2002. DoJ and FCC blocked it. Would the government change its mind now that the telcos have cable tv now too? I thought government said no to AT&T buying T-Mobile.

 

[dave73]

I hope the 2 companies never merge. The merger of Sirius & XM clearly showed less choice & they're already wanting to raise prices. I see this one type of technology ending up costing more if the 2 companies merge. Except for satellite, most areas of the country only have one cable company, & I don't consider TV service thru the phone companies cable, since it doesn't use coax to the house (even that service isn't available in most areas of the country).

 

[FreddyE1977]

I think the political environment is rapidly changing and you are going to start seeing
serious blowback against deals that would seem to create a de-facto monopoly.

You are already seeing it. The T-Mobile/AT&T deal has likely gone into permanent limbo.

 

[JayR]

Will they try to merge again even if AT&T and T-Mobile fail at merging?

As a subscriber, I oppose the idea. Should the idea come to fruition, I'll exercise a "wait and see" approach.

 

[kenglish]

I think that allowing them to merge and keep both owners' satellite spectrum would create a major monopoly. Allowing them to merge their customer base and programming, returning the bandwidth of one company, would be better.
That way, there would still be opportunities for other competitors to use that space, for additional programming, or niche services, as well as innovate.
It might even be possible to migrate local stations entirely to satellite, with a free-to-air service.

 

[LKellerIII]

I hope the 2 companies never merge. The merger of Sirius & XM clearly showed less choice & they're already wanting to raise prices. I see this one type of technology ending up costing more if the 2 companies merge. Except for satellite, most areas of the country only have one cable company, & I don't consider TV service thru the phone companies cable, since it doesn't use coax to the house (even that service isn't available in most areas of the country).

Sirius/XM is not a good analogy in my opinion. First - nobody needs satellite radio. I guess nobody 'needs' 200+ channels of TV either, but most people think they do, and that's what counts. I've sampled satellite radio in rental cars...it's nice, I guess, but I've never been enticed by it. Not when I'm already paying monthly fees for cable TV, NetFlix, high-speed internet, etc.

And from what I gathered, things were not going well for either Sirius or XM when the merger was proposed. They could argue that their survival depended upon a merger.

I think a much better analogy is AT&T/T-Mobile, and obviously, the jury is still out on that one.

 

[Mediafrog+]

While everyone likes to have choices amongst media providers, those individual companies have to be viable as stand-alone businesses. DirecTV and Dish would have to prove that neither could continue to go forward without bleeding red ink. We're probably not at that point yet, but if the telcos (U-verse, Verizon FIOS) wind up gobbling a larger part of the pie, the satellite providers might have an argument for a merger.

Sirius and XM were not going to both survive as separate companies; one was bound to fail, which would have resulted in the same thing as a merger--just one provider. It made no sense for the government to block the move.

I suspect the AT&T/T-Mobile merger will eventually be approved. with major concessions from both companies. T-Mobile is a distant fourth place in the mobile phone market, and there are other providers (Leap Wireless, MetroPCS, plus other regional carriers) snapping at their heels. Deutsche Telekom wants to unload the company, and I sure don't see anyone else knocking at the door (surprised Sprint wasn't the suitor.) If AT&T doesn't buy T-Mobile, someone else will, and we wind up with the same result--one less carrier.

 

[JayR]

I suspect the AT&T/T-Mobile merger will eventually be approved. with major concessions from both companies. T-Mobile is a distant fourth place in the mobile phone market, and there are other providers (Leap Wireless, MetroPCS, plus other regional carriers) snapping at their heels. Deutsche Telekom wants to unload the company, and I sure don't see anyone else knocking at the door (surprised Sprint wasn't the suitor.) If AT&T doesn't buy T-Mobile, someone else will, and we wind up with the same result--one less carrier.

If T-Mobile were to be purchased by a regional provider, that regional provider would be the fourth national carrier.

 

[vchimpanzee]

It may be possible where I live to get all the over-the-air stations with an antenna, although with all the trees in my yard I don't know where mine would go.

But not far from where I live, you have to have a dish if you don't want to deal with the quirks of digital TV from an antenna.

One house does have a NASA dish, though I'm guessing that's old.

If you go too far from the city or terrain is a serious problem, such a merger would be really bad news as they could dictate what you watch. Just a few weeks ago the NBC station was pestering us with ads warning that DirecTV would drop them. Imagine life WAAAY out in the country with only one provider.

 

[radiojomo]

If T-Mobile were to be purchased by a regional provider, that regional provider would be the fourth national carrier.

It seems that every regional carrier (like MetroPCS and Cricket) uses CDMA technology and T-Mobile uses GSM. It would be pretty hard to merge those kinds of entities.

 

[1069_KIFR]

WILL DISH AND DIRECTV MERGE?

No.

 

[Mediafrog+]

If T-Mobile were to be purchased by a regional provider, that regional provider would be the fourth national carrier.

Leap Wireless (Cricket) is morphing into a national carrier, so it might be a merger partner. However Leap is CDMA.

U.S. Cellular and Metro PCS would seem to be the only other possibilities. The other regionals just seem too small. Still results in one less carrier in areas those companies serve.

Anyone notice that regional carrier C Spire (formerly Cellular South) got the i-Phone before T-Mobile?

 

[Nate Wesley]

If T-Mobile were to be purchased by a regional provider, that regional provider would be the fourth national carrier.

Leap Wireless (Cricket) is morphing into a national carrier, so it might be a merger partner. However Leap is CDMA.

U.S. Cellular and Metro PCS would seem to be the only other possibilities. The other regionals just seem too small. Still results in one less carrier in areas those companies serve.

Anyone notice that regional carrier C Spire (formerly Cellular South) got the i-Phone before T-Mobile?

As it stands, the latest iPhone 4S and previous iPhone 4 are incompatible with the frequency bands that T-Mobile uses for most of its high-speed/'4G' data (1700mhz and 2100mhz). And that's with AT&T and T-Mobile using some of the same GSM technology. C Spire and Sprint can benefit from Verizon finally getting the iPhone, as all three use CDMA-friendly technology.

It probably isn't technically difficult for Apple to make a T-Mobile iPhone; it could be that T-Mobile has consciously decided not to offer one yet. After all, U.S. Cellular (much larger than C Spire) said the price was too steep.

 

[JeeperOne]

Well we let Comcast/Xfinity merge with TCI (Later AT&T cable) 10 years ago. We let local Cable companies merge in the past. and Directv merge with Primstar in the 1990's?

However there were other players in town in many places of the country for cable & DISH Network had just started up on the satellite side though

So it's not like there wasn't any direct competition back then. In fact, there was MORE direct competition back then than there is now. For that reason alone, I don't think this will go through.....

But I've been proven wrong on here before, so.....

Cheers & 73 ;D