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View Full Version : Dish and D* to merge?

fastep
07-18-2006, 07:31 AM
Could this really happen?


http://www.tvpredictions.com/satmerger071706.htm
Fluffybear
07-18-2006, 08:13 AM
I seriously doubt it! The FCC squashed a proposed merger once before and not much has really changed. The article cites services offered by Verizon and AT&T has reasons to approve the merger but there is is still a lot of people without viable alternatives.
kaszeta
07-18-2006, 08:29 AM
Could this really happen?


http://www.tvpredictions.com/satmerger071706.htm

Well, considering that they tried a merger back in 2002 and the FCC blocked it, it would be an uphill battle.
newsposter
07-18-2006, 08:42 AM
never, it would mean more HD for us DTV users. Nothing that good can happen to us. So no, bookmark this post. It wont happen anytime soon.
HiDefGator
07-18-2006, 09:37 AM
Well, considering that they tried a merger back in 2002 and the FCC blocked it, it would be an uphill battle.

Another way of looking at it is the two companies have been through this before and are now much better prepared to win FCC approval this time.
stiffi
07-18-2006, 09:50 AM
Directv and Primestar merged back in the mid 90's. At that point they were the biggest players and Echostar was on the outside looking in.

Why not a merger between E* and DTV? The 2 of them together, would be a much stronger opponent against Comcast and Verizon.
newsposter
07-18-2006, 10:22 AM
why can't there be one big company that is heavily regulated? I know ATT prices were high waaay back when. Would that be the reason why? Just seems like a 'duplication of services' to have 1000 different providers.
moonman
07-18-2006, 10:46 AM
Yup...it could happen.............
EchoStar Communications’ stock rose Monday on speculation that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. was looking to acquire the second-largest direct-broadcast satellite provider and merge it with his DirecTV, the dominant player.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6354056.html?display=Breaking+News
yaddayaddayadda
07-18-2006, 12:38 PM
This would be bad news for consumers if the sale is allowed to go through.
tivolocity
07-18-2006, 01:20 PM
With the telcos starting to enter the market space with IPTV, I think the conditions may be more favorable for the two to merge. A dream come true would be if Echostar acquired TiVo (to settle the legal battles between the two), and was then acquired by D*.
bidger
07-18-2006, 01:22 PM
Directv and Primestar merged back in the mid 90's
I believe DirecTV acquired Primestar, they didn't merge with them.
kbcrowe
07-18-2006, 01:25 PM
With the telcos starting to enter the market space with IPTV, I think the conditions may be more favorable for the two to merge. A dream come true would be if Echostar acquired TiVo (to settle the legal battles between the two), and was then acquired by D*.

I wonder if D* buying E* in itself would settle E*'s patent issues with TiVo. D* already has a free pass to use TiVo patents.
HiDefGator
07-18-2006, 01:54 PM
As long as DTV was required to offer the exact same pricing to everyone then consumers without access to cable couldn't be screwed by monopoly pricing after the merger.
rminsk
07-18-2006, 04:04 PM
Two words about this article "Phillip Swann". Take everything he says with a enormous gain of salt. He is like a Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker movie. If you throw 1000 jokes at the wall one of them is bound to stick.
cheer
07-18-2006, 05:21 PM
why can't there be one big company that is heavily regulated?
That never, ever, ever works. What you end up with is iffy prices, no innovation, no service improvements....because there's no incentive.
I know ATT prices were high waaay back when. Would that be the reason why? Just seems like a 'duplication of services' to have 1000 different providers.
It's called "competition."
cheer
07-18-2006, 05:21 PM
As long as DTV was required to offer the exact same pricing to everyone then consumers without access to cable couldn't be screwed by monopoly pricing after the merger.
Great. Does anyone remember what cable companies were like when they had NO competition?
desulliv
07-18-2006, 05:35 PM
I wonder if D* buying E* in itself would settle E*'s patent issues with TiVo. D* already has a free pass to use TiVo patents.
This wouldn't help those of us that want Tivo with D* in the future. D* has already made the decision to move away from Tivo.
HiDefGator
07-18-2006, 05:44 PM
This wouldn't help those of us that want Tivo with D* in the future. D* has already made the decision to move away from Tivo.

I'm not sure anything will help those of us that want Tivo with D* at this point.
kbcrowe
07-18-2006, 05:46 PM
This wouldn't help those of us that want Tivo with D* in the future. D* has already made the decision to move away from Tivo.
Of course not. Don't see why you connect the two issues that way. That ship has sailed.
desulliv
07-18-2006, 06:56 PM
Of course not. Don't see why you connect the two issues that way. That ship has sailed.
I thought you were making a connection. If not, what is the issue whether E* settles it patent issues with Tivo as a result of a merger or buyout by D*?
pkscout
07-18-2006, 07:13 PM
What's different is that the FCC has let the telcos "re-merge" into mega companies to "compete" with cable. In the FCC's world, three mega companies (one telco, one cable company, and one satellite company) would still qualify as competition.

So I'm still waiting on the AT&T/Verizon merger and the TWC, Comcast, Cox merger. Then we'll have one phone company, one cable company, and one satellite company all competing over who gets to screw us in the most creative way.
generalpatton71
07-19-2006, 06:58 AM
The telcos are only in about 5% of US markets (if not less). I don't think they qualify as competition just yet. You also have to take into account the very large subscriber base the Sat companies have from people who only have Sats as there only Tv option.

I also don't think that allot of people in the FCC or government is to interested in having our SAT companies become part of the Sky monopoly that Murdoch owns around the world. I personally think Ergen is just feeding this rumor because it's helping his stock price and thus making him even richer.

In the short term HD customers would be better off, but not in the long term. I strongly believe in competition! If they merged how long would it be before they started charging different prices in different markets for example.
cheer
07-19-2006, 10:16 AM
What's different is that the FCC has let the telcos "re-merge" into mega companies to "compete" with cable. In the FCC's world, three mega companies (one telco, one cable company, and one satellite company) would still qualify as competition.
Errrr, not exactly.

The FCC allowed the AT&T/SBC merger because there were almost no markets where the two were competitors. AT&T had long distance voice, managed data services, managed and unmanaged Internet, and so on. SBC had local voice and data services, a smattering of long distance, etc. The one point where they really did have some overlap (consumer LD) is the one part of AT&T that was essentially dead anyway.

The real flaw was the original breakup, which was pointless as it turned one big monopoly into lots of small ones. It did garner competition in long distance (as LD was subsidizing local service) but did nothing for local service, data circuits, etc.So I'm still waiting on the AT&T/Verizon merger and the TWC, Comcast, Cox merger. Then we'll have one phone company, one cable company, and one satellite company all competing over who gets to screw us in the most creative way.
AT&T/Verizon is unlikely, as now those two have a number of areas where they compete (thanks to Verizon picking up MCI).

The cable companies don't overlap very much so that could happen. The sat companies overlap completely -- they're direct competitors -- so again that's less likely.