AT&T hears an EchoStar

[Van]

Charlie wont sell, might do a partnership but even thats not likely. There was rumor that SBC was going to buy out charlie two years ago and then again a year ago, Charlie likes control over his companies.

 

[navychop]

Charlie just staffed his executive suite with folks with a history of preparing their companies for sale. Read up on their backgrounds HERE. You can use the names to get more info elsewhere. When the latest ones came onboard, it was noted in financial articles that they had backgrounds where they prepared their employers for sale or as attractive takeover/merger candidates.

 

[Stargazer]

It would be nice to get a lot of new hardware and satellites then they give up and us getting it all over again during the next buyout. Charlie Ergen would be there waiting to buy it all back.

Charlie knows that he has a lot of power and the kind of power that he has he wants more than the money. He has plenty of money to enjoy life with and probably has no way of enjoying life more than he does now.

 

[Chris Walker]

Charlie wont sell, might do a partnership but even thats not likely. There was rumor that SBC was going to buy out charlie two years ago and then again a year ago, Charlie likes control over his companies.

Exactly, we go through this every year to start the year "Company X rumored to buy Echostar". E* isn't for sell, and Charlie loves the power too much to sell.

 

[Poke]

Well saw this on Daily Wireless! http://dailywireless.org/

"Predictions For 2006"

Here are a few casual predictions for 2006. For better or worse.



AT&T/SBC Buys (a piece) of Echostar. The SBC/ATT thrust to deliver television to the home can't be done in rural areas. Overbuilding urban areas often doesn't pencil out. Partnering with Echostar does. They'll add 5.8 GHz WiMax for a triple play. Cheap. Nationwide.


MSN Buys (a piece) of DirecTV. Same deal. Triple play. Clearwire provides the backhaul.


Verizon Buys 700 Mhz from Aloha Partners. Verizon will offer broadband wireless via Flarion/MediaFlo starting next year (2007).


Sprint and Google provide City Zones. These WiFi zones will be free with cable modem service. Cable companies provide infrastructure support.


Yahoo Becomes a Global IPTV Provider. Deals with SES Global, Bollywood and independent studios provide a turnkey VOD package with 10,000 titles.


Cingular falls to Number Two. After spending billions in infrasture and promotion, the realization sinks in; UMTS isn't as cost/effective as EV-DO Rev A from Sprint and Verizon. EV-DO Rev B (the multi-carrier version of Rev A) is on track to be published in the first quarter of this year, with the first deployments expected in 2008.


802.11n Gets Ratified. The IEEE approves an 802.11n standard and actual "pre-802.11n" products are available by the end of the year. They deliver 100+Mbps service and Wireless HDTV around the house.


Wireless Video iPod. Features WiFi and 3G downloads as well as DVB-H and MediaFLO options.


Bluetooth Dies. It's replaced by an UWB standard for "wireless Firewire" and "wireless USB"


Voice Becomes Free. Data becomes cheap. Muniwireless expands. Cable providers and satellite companies remain profitable but telco stockholders panic.


NSA's Trailblazer exposed. The scope of the distributed processing operation which datamines fiber hubs around the country, is shown to involve most telcos.


Another Pacific Telecom Conference, another satellite down. PTC gathers in Hawaii in a couple of weeks. It's getting predictable.

 

[Van]

I never trust predictions, they recently had a news article about "experts" that make predictions and after analyzing the numbers it came out ( what we already knew ) that the experts missed %95 of the time atleast.

 

[RBBrittain]

For a time, it seemed AT&T/SBC might have wanted E* for help with video programming (an area in which both SBC and old AT&T proved to be clueless) as well as to provide a cost-effective means of distributing video to central offices to avoid replicating the BUD farms most big cable systems use. (Yes, I know it's not in E*'s distribution agreements, but that can be changed if Ed Whitacre demands it.) However, BellSouth just signed a traditional satellite distribution deal with SES Americom for its IPTV offering; that suggests AT&T may do the same, in which case it won't need E*. (And no, I don't see AT&T using WiMax anytime soon.)

 

[David Dietzel]

Voom HDNews mentioned the possible ATT+Echostar marriage last night and also commented that Charlie would wind up being ATT's largest shareholder.

Ka-ching!

 

[kyblue]

Where there is smoke there is fire!

 

[SummitAdvantageRetailer]

Just a bit of news that might be of interest if it ever happens:
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch will continue to be at the forefront of the major media giants' push into new media. But his short attention span will begin to get the better of him as his last pet project — DirecTV Group Inc., the nation's leading satellite provider, which he purchased two years ago — begins to struggle in the face of cable's superior bundle of products. Murdoch will consider taking a run at DirecTV's chief rival — EchoStar Communications Corp., operator of Dish Network — to increase his capacity for providing video enhancements such as high-definition TV.
But he will remain on the sidelines when phone giant AT&T Inc. (formerly SBC Communications) expresses interest. In a bid to provide television in addition to phone and high-speed Internet service, AT&T will abort its high-stakes gambit to wire the country and will buy EchoStar for $20 billion instead.
IMHO- I don't think that the FCC would let Murdoch own D* and E*, but you never know!!!

Care to post a link to your source? I appreciated this post because it's more verbose than the other "rumor" thread that's very terse in their rumor of a possible AT&T merger with E*. This is more plausible than the other post.

 

[Bobby]

IMHO- I don't think that the FCC would let Murdoch own D* and E*, but you never know!!!

Considering that the FCC and the courts would not allow Echostar to buy DirecTV, thereby allowing Murdoch to buy DirecTV, I think it would be a cold day in hell when they would allow the reverse.