AT&T Should sell DIRECTV to DISH

NYDutch

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I was watching the latest Cordcuttersnews podcast and he thought what the analysts where talking about was selling DTV to Dish when they switched all the DTV satelliteTV customers to DTV over IP that they could then sell DTV to Dish.
If that's AT&T's criteria, they'll never sell DTV. There will always be a segment of DBS subscribers that either wont or cant switch to IP for TV programming.
 

CSM

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If that's AT&T's criteria, they'll never sell DTV. There will always be a segment of DBS subscribers that either wont or cant switch to IP for TV programming.
Then they would go to Dish because if that scenario plays out Dish would be the main satelliteTV provider if you don’t count Orby.
 

NYDutch

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Then they would go to Dish because if that scenario plays out Dish would be the main satelliteTV provider if you don’t count Orby.
Or go to Dish when AT&T sells what ever is left of DTV at that point. Whether anyone would want it by then is anyone's guess. Matybe Orby would take it at fire sale pricing. AT&T's investors should love that...
 

slice1900

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Then only a few assets would have value, not the company as a going concern. Sats, slots, transponders.

If Directv wasn't operating as a satellite business any longer, the satellites and transponders would have almost no value. You can only use these satellites in the US, their footprint wouldn't work in Europe/Africa/etc. and you can't change it after launch. The slots would also have no real value because there wouldn't be anyone willing to start up a new satellite company from scratch that could make use of them.
 

Juan

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There are lots of possible uses...if they could get the satellites at bargain basement prices they could start a FREE ad supported dbs system similar to what they have in Europe and the free OTA station network we have today but alas
If Directv wasn't operating as a satellite business any longer, the satellites and transponders would have almost no value. You can only use these satellites in the US, their footprint wouldn't work in Europe/Africa/etc. and you can't change it after launch. The slots would also have no real value because there wouldn't be anyone willing to start up a new satellite company from scratch that could make use of them.

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navychop

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If Directv wasn't operating as a satellite business any longer, the satellites and transponders would have almost no value. You can only use these satellites in the US, their footprint wouldn't work in Europe/Africa/etc. and you can't change it after launch. The slots would also have no real value because there wouldn't be anyone willing to start up a new satellite company from scratch that could make use of them.

Couldn’t many of those transponders be used by Dish to expand programming, especially UHD, down the line? Different dish. Ignore the Ka.

Or Dish could use the expanded space to increase PQ! Yeah, I couldn’t resist.


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nelson61

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There are lots of possible uses...if they could get the satellites at bargain basement prices they could start a FREE ad supported dbs system similar to what they have in Europe and the free OTA station network we have today but alas

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They made that decision years ago.
Why would they want them, other than using the slots to eliminate either one of their Canadian leased slots (129 and 72)?.

They have already looked at expanding bandwidth and the market growth potential a couple years ago and concluded it's not worth it to expand.
So, they canceled their 17/24 BSS licenses, canceled the satellite design contracts, and paid the FCC penalties for walking from those licenses.
 

slice1900

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Couldn’t many of those transponders be used by Dish to expand programming, especially UHD, down the line? Different dish. Ignore the Ka.

Or Dish could use the expanded space to increase PQ! Yeah, I couldn’t resist.


If Directv reaches a point where they can't make a go of it financially, Dish is almost certainly already out of business.

It appears Directv will be abandoning their transponders on 110 and 119 satellites in 6-12 months. It isn't clear how FCC rules work as far Dish getting their hands on them, and Directv could presumably delay that for years if they wanted. But let's say they smoothed the way and Dish was able to get them quite quickly. Most likely Dish will use those transponders to drop the leased transponders on 129 from their western arc, so it won't give them any new bandwidth. Even they kept using that satellite at 129 they don't own, so all those transponders at 110/119 were new, it only adds bandwidth in one arc. They'd need to find a way to add bandwidth in the eastern arc as well. Saying "we have good PQ if you live west of the Mississippi" is kind of a hard marketing argument :)
 

navychop

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Isn’t 105 viewable from the entire country?


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NYDutch

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Isn’t 105 viewable from the entire country?

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Yes, and even 129 is viewable from all but a small part of the country, with northern Maine pretty much out of the footprint. The low elevation in the northeast is problematic of course, but given a clear LOS it's there.
 

slice1900

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Doesn't really matter what is technically viewable from various parts of the country. Dish doesn't provide locals for most of the places east of the Mississippi from their western arc, and vice versa - and they'd need to do a truck roll to replace people's LNB and re-aim their dish (hoping there are no LOS issues) even if locals were available in the 'other' arc. They made their decision about having two arcs, it is too late to change their mind now.
 

Juan

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They could just change the locations of the locals
Doesn't really matter what is technically viewable from various parts of the country. Dish doesn't provide locals for most of the places east of the Mississippi from their western arc, and vice versa - and they'd need to do a truck roll to replace people's LNB and re-aim their dish (hoping there are no LOS issues) even if locals were available in the 'other' arc. They made their decision about having two arcs, it is too late to change their mind now.

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NYDutch

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Doesn't really matter what is technically viewable from various parts of the country. Dish doesn't provide locals for most of the places east of the Mississippi from their western arc, and vice versa - and they'd need to do a truck roll to replace people's LNB and re-aim their dish (hoping there are no LOS issues) even if locals were available in the 'other' arc. They made their decision about having two arcs, it is too late to change their mind now.

Ummm, it's not quite that clear cut between the two arcs. There's the WA only Roanoke, VA DMA for instance, and the EA only Rapid City, SD DMA. Most of the eastern locals are also on the WA in SD. Personally, as a mobile RV'er, I'm glad Dish went with the dual arc setup. It makes my aiming opportunities much better on heavily treed RV park sites. Even if I do sometimes only get the eastern locals in SD on the WA.
 
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slice1900

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They could just change the locations of the locals

"Just"?

They can't change the configuration of satellites that's already in orbit, they can't add a bunch of additional spot beams or make them point to places they don't currently point.

Even if they make such changes to their in orbit satellites, they'd also have to visit every single customer in one arc, replace their LNB, and re-point their dish at the other arc.
 

Juan

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Most locals were originally on western arc..including NYC...with newer enhanced encoders allowing more channels per transponder..should be easier than you think
"Just"?

They can't change the configuration of satellites that's already in orbit, they can't add a bunch of additional spot beams or make them point to places they don't currently point.

Even if they make such changes to their in orbit satellites, they'd also have to visit every single customer in one arc, replace their LNB, and re-point their dish at the other arc.

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raoul5788

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Most locals were originally on western arc..including NYC...with newer enhanced encoders allowing more channels per transponder..should be easier than you think

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Wasn't that before there was an EA?
 

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