AT&T - DISH talks getting hot.

[Hall]

I believe Dish could purchase TiVo by themselves today if those felt like it..... Why would they though ? You buy other companies to get their technology, which Dish probably doesn't really need. Many people consider Dish's DVRs to be pretty darn good or you buy them to pick out the good stuff, throw away the rest, and shut it down.

 

[pdxsam]

...and how many shares does Chuck own?

Too many to rationally try and count. He's a 10billionare now. If they sell he'll move up the Forbes list VERY fast.

 

[DWS44]

Let's see, they'd rename it "AT&T Satellite TV" first then people would complain, so they'd make it "Dish Network" again. After a while, they'll slowly 're-brand' it with "AT&T Dish Network"...

Look how they went back and forth with Cingular's name.

LOL...and so much for Dish Network sponsoring Roush's NASCAR Teams in the Cup series! :haha

 

[mike123abc]

Ergan probably wants to sell so he can retire, or start a new fun venture. He is the one with the controlling voting stock, so Echostar only sells if he wants it to sell. Once a company gets to be a huge conglomerate like Dishnetwork is, requires people with different skills to run the place.

Question is what will Charlie do next? He will have a few billion burning a hole in his pocket when this is done.

 

[Bob Haller]

When AT&T buys E my first move is cancel service. I HATE THE BRAND, doesnt matter who owns it.

yeah I know its wierd but had repeated bad experiences with that bad brand name.

live by the brand die by the brand, and note since the bell break up AT&T brand has only been noted by failed mergers and purchases. please list successes? NCR, TCI, etc etc. take a decent business, buy for giga bucks, dump in more giga bucks, watch investment tank, sell the sinking business at fire sale prices.



So at&t buys E trashes it in 5 years charlie buys it back for pennies on a dollar.

 

[mdonnelly]

...
live by the brand die by the brand, and note since the bell break up AT&T brand has only been noted by failed mergers and purchases. please list successes? NCR, TCI, etc etc. take a decent business, buy for giga bucks, dump in more giga bucks, watch investment tank, sell the sinking business at fire sale prices....

AT&T has had a series of spectacularly bad CEOs over the last 20 years, and they have driven the brand into the ground.

SBC, on the other hand, has been successfully gobbling up Baby Bells all over the country, and making money hand over fist. If it goes through, it'll be SBC you're dealing with, not AT&T.

 

[kovach]

SBC bought AT&T and changed their name to AT&T. There is no SBC anymore.

True, AT&T was driven into the ground which allowed SBC to purchase it. But the AT&T of today is essentially the old SBC plus some.

 

[allargon]

SBC bought AT&T and changed their name to AT&T. There is no SBC anymore.

True, AT&T was driven into the ground which allowed SBC to purchase it. But the AT&T of today is essentially the old SBC plus some.

It is SBC.

I remember living in California with service from Pacific Bell, TCI and PacBell wireless. I blinked and my local phone (and DSL) service changed from PacBell to SBC, my cable from TCI to AT&T and my cell from PacBell to Cingular. In TX, I have SBC/AT&T for local and DSL. I have Dish for multichannel. I have Cingular/AT&T for wireless that is reimbursed by my employer. I turned down many an opportunity to bundle since they are actually cheaper if purchased separately.

Honestly, I don't care. I want U-verse for Internet. However, I've read their TV service is lacking. So, I'll stick with Dish. If AT&T/SBC buys Dish, this will give them a major leg up on Verizon and Qwest. It will also make DirectTV, Comcast and TimeWarner squirm.

 

[Ronald_Jeremy]

Here is a good synopsis of the new AT&T and its history.

The New AT&T

 

[comcast]

old school news.

This has been done a while ago. Look up north to our Canadian neighbors. Telesat owns those Anik & Nimiq birds which in turn lease them to Starchoice & Expressvu. I strongly disapprove the merger of ATT & DISH. Remember guys, ATT is still a monopoly should you've forgotten. ATT would jack up the prices to make more money for themselves.

 

[drummerguy]

I believe Dish could purchase TiVo by themselves today if those felt like it..... Why would they though ? You buy other companies to get their technology, which Dish probably doesn't really need. Many people consider Dish's DVRs to be pretty darn good or you buy them to pick out the good stuff, throw away the rest, and shut it down.

Well, there is that silly little patent infringement lawsuit Tivo has against E*. E* buys Tivo, and that goes away. With what E* stands to lose if the lawsuit is successful (many many millions of dollars in licensing fees, or having their DVR technology disabled, thus losing many millions of customers, or both), it might actually be cheaper to buy Tivo instead!!!

 

[mdonnelly]

This has been done a while ago. Look up north to our Canadian neighbors. Telesat owns those Anik & Nimiq birds which in turn lease them to Starchoice & Expressvu. I strongly disapprove the merger of ATT & DISH. Remember guys, ATT is still a monopoly should you've forgotten. ATT would jack up the prices to make more money for themselves.

I'm not sure what AT&T does have a monopoly on, but they don't and won't have a monopoly on DBS service. There's a company out there called DirecTV that is fairly competitive.

 

[birdo]

I guess I am curious if AT&T were to buy Dish, how that would affect Uverse? Would they promote Dish as your television choice or U-verse?

 

[RandallA]

I guess I am curious if AT&T were to buy Dish, how that would affect Uverse? Would they promote Dish as your television choice or U-verse?

They may still offer Uverse project to those who can't get satellite.

 

[birdo]

They may still offer Uverse project to those who can't get satellite.

Perhaps that is true. It just seems that U-verse is a large undertaking when they install it to a town. About two months ago our town gave them the ok to install the nodes. Well they have been installing a node across the street for the last 60 days, day in and day out, bringing in trenching machines, bulldozers, att techs etc. Even on Sundays as well. And they are still not done. Latest I heard was late October. Just seems like a lot of work to offer IF they cannot get Dish. We shall see.

 

[navychop]

urgh union "strength"... dont even get me started

What, you don't see those great union success cities of Detroit and Cincinnati as great advertisements for unions?

 

[mperdue]

AT&T has had a series of spectacularly bad CEOs over the last 20 years, and they have driven the brand into the ground.

SBC, on the other hand, has been successfully gobbling up Baby Bells all over the country, and making money hand over fist. If it goes through, it'll be SBC you're dealing with, not AT&T.

Don't confuse Bob with facts...

 

[mperdue]

Remember guys, ATT is still a monopoly should you've forgotten. ATT would jack up the prices to make more money for themselves.

What, exactly, does at&t have a monopoly of? There are alternate providers for pretty much everything they sell. They do have exclusive phones service areas, as do all the other phone service providers, but even that is in the process of going away.

Mario

 

[lakebum431]

What, exactly, does at&t have a monopoly of? There are alternate providers for pretty much everything they sell. They do have exclusive phones service areas, as do all the other phone service providers, but even that is in the process of going away.

Mario

I don't think that is true anymore. That was part of the deal with the FCC that allowed them to go back into having both local and long distance. In fact if you call to add certain services they are required to tell you that there are other companies that can also provide that service, then if requested they have to list them as well. If I remember correctly that is part of Section 272 of the Telcom Act.

 

[mperdue]

I don't think that is true anymore. That was part of the deal with the FCC that allowed them to go back into having both local and long distance. In fact if you call to add certain services they are required to tell you that there are other companies that can also provide that service, then if requested they have to list them as well. If I remember correctly that is part of Section 272 of the Telcom Act.

All of the services offered by my local phone company are also offered by my local cable company. If you have competition it's hard to say there's a monopoly. This is true in many places all across the country and more areas are allowing cable and phone companies to compete each year. Also, companies like Vonage are adding to the competition.

Mario