Clearly AT&T is betting on this technology working in the future, but it is unlikely that it will happen in the next 5, maybe even 10 years. There are tons of things that have to go right, both logistically and regulatory to allow something like this to ultimately deliver TV to the masses. Nothing wrong with looking to the future, but I think the "sky is falling" discussion has gone a little overboard. Until broadband becomes a reality for most of America they would be stupid to entirely exit the satellite business. I'm sure Dish is licking their chops at that possibility though. Such an event would make Dish the only player in town for many.
What COULD very well happy is a hybrid solution like what we've talked about in the past. Once the SD channels are phased out their dependence on satellite capacity will be much lower unless 4K really takes off. With the two newest satellites they've launched basically sitting idle they have two spares as well. I could easily envision a strategy similar to the one SiriusXM has used with their satellite radio eventually where a core package of channels is transmitted nationally via satellite, but local channels and other less popular stations are either transmitted using these newer networks they are testing or over traditional streaming like Netflix, etc are today. SiriusXM does the same thing. They have their satellite radio channels, but offer many others that are streaming only.
