Dish Sets Stage for DirecTV Merger with Transfer of Satellites

[mike123abc]

Analysts say what they want, but I still do not see Dish and DIRECTV being allowed to merge at this time. Cable companies can merge all they want since they do not overlap. You are not removing a competitor from the market by merging Comcast and Time Warner Cable. It is not like if you are unhappy with TWC, you can switch to Comcast, but if you are unhappy with Dish you can switch to DIRECTV.

Essentially right now you have 100% of the US with 2 competitors (Dish and DIRECTV), probably 95%+ of households with 3 competitors (Dish/DIRECTV/cable) and a much smaller percentage with 4 or more competitors.

Now a few years down the road if internet TV really takes off then I could see the merger being allowed.

 

[nelson61]

It's gonna happen.. The market has dramatically changed. You want DirecTV merging with Dish.... But no matter how many people say it isnt going to happen, they dont realize that the rural market is didley squat. The real money is in suburbs and city's where there is competition. Rural america cant even keep cband alive. Not much out there, even in places like rural areas that I have been, have at lease been served by a cable connection. (Towns of 250 or less) You have to litterly live out in the boondocks to not have the ability to get cable or DSl. Even then you have to face the fact that rural america is only 15 percent of the population spread over 72 percent of the land mass. That means that 85 percent of america has access to cable and DSL with satellite.

Also it makes total financial sense for it to happen! I think Ergen is done in the Video business and wants to expand solely into the internet / telecom, while keeping Echostars assets. If a new player was to come into town, Ergen could lease space to them and allow a new upstart to take root.

The sticks may be squat but they control congress and no way are they interested in giving someone a monopoly on setting their tv viewing prices.

Sent using SatelliteGuys Android App

 

[Teehar]

Does anyone seriously think that a merger will lower your bill?How about provide better customer service?Take a look at some of the other big mergers,I think you will find the answer is no.

 

[Scherrman]

Does anyone seriously think that a merger will lower your bill?How about provide better customer service?Take a look at some of the other big mergers,I think you will find the answer is no.

I'm not sure yet. My hopes are that the two combined would have the ability to put together a better set of packages. With more power over networks they may be able to play channels where they want and maybe have a sports only package that people have been wanting. If the two could do that then it opens up possibilities for customers to save money.

If the two kept the current model for programming then I don't see these packages going down. I expect to see a different set of packages.

 

[dangue]

I don't expect a merger to cause prices to increase drastically. Why? Because the sat companies have national pricing. Which means that if they want to maintain profitability, that national pricing will have to be competitive in areas facing competition from Cable, DSL, IPTV, etc. Rural customers will lose the choice of providers and the ability to use the threat of switching to get bill credits, but unless the new SatCo decides to give up on 85% of the population, I just don't see the prices going through the roof.

On the flip side, I'm not sure I'd expect prices to go lower either. Anything is possible, but that strikes me as unlikely. The real benefit would be in the redundancy and increased bandwidth. Once they got all the tech sorted out and integrated, there would not only be room for all HD, but the start of 4K. That would be exciting.

Despite that, I think the odds of the merger successfully navigating the approval process and occurring are relatively low. The rural voice is stronger than some here are willing to admit.

 

[Teehar]

I'm not sure yet. My hopes are that the two combined would have the ability to put together a better set of packages. With more power over networks they may be able to play channels where they want and maybe have a sports only package that people have been wanting. If the two could do that then it opens up possibilities for customers to save money.

If the two kept the current model for programming then I don't see these packages going down. I expect to see a different set of packages.

Yea I would hope that too,but from all the mergers I have been a part of or have paid attention to,that hasn't been the case.In most cases customer service gets worse,and rates keep on climbing.When AT&T took over bellsouth here phone service and dsl service went from not too bad to terrible.Prices went way up as well.Sirius and xm,again prices went up not down,or held in check.Unless DTV and DISH provide in writing that they do everything possible to keep customer rates as low as possible,provide the best customer service possible,there is no way I would vote yes to it.In areas where there is no cable or limited broadband,they would have customers over a barrel,and I'm sure they would use that to their advantage given the chance.

 

[nelson61]

Dish Network said it is transferring five satellites to EchoStar ? a move that paves the way for a merger with DirecTV, according to Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet: http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/dish-sets-stage-for-directv-merger-with-transfer-of-satellites-analyst-1201115338/

They just are putting all their sat tech talent in one basket. Hughes added greatly to their expertise. Just announced they are going for s band in europe using some of the sats they picked up from bankruptcy. Said the Hughes team has the skill to deploy it. They want to build on their communication franchise.

50 million or so tv setboxes that are built around 2 different transmission and cypher systems. Like verizon and att - different phone for each.

Sent using SatelliteGuys Android App

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I am not a fan of them merging. Case in point... SiriusXM.


Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[HIFI]

I think you can ask any of us that have worked for both companies and the response you'll most likely get will be if dish management has anything to do with the merged company, NO THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Hall]

No doubt if the TW/Comcast merger is allowed, we're likely to see movement on Directv and Dish merging and all this talk of "the FCC will never allow it" will end !

 

[nelson61]

No doubt if the TW/Comcast merger is allowed, we're likely to see movement on Directv and Dish merging and all this talk of "the FCC will never allow it" will end !

It is not the FCC that will decide. Ask the Senators from Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and the surrounding states what they want. If they don't want it, it will not happen. Those Senators really don't care what the FCC thinks nor what the 85 percent of the population that has cable thinks.

 

[KAB]

No doubt if the TW/Comcast merger is allowed, we're likely to see movement on Directv and Dish merging and all this talk of "the FCC will never allow it" will end !

The FCC, DOJ and SEC all have their own microscopes.

 

[Tyralak]

I see little good from a merger. I think DTV would phase out the Hopper. But, this is years away from worrying about.

You're making the assumption that D* would be buying Dish. That isn't likely the way a merger would go.

 

[Gobucks]

Yea I would hope that too,but from all the mergers I have been a part of or have paid attention to,that hasn't been the case.In most cases customer service gets worse,and rates keep on climbing.When AT&T took over bellsouth here phone service and dsl service went from not too bad to terrible.Prices went way up as well.Sirius and xm,again prices went up not down,or held in check.Unless DTV and DISH provide in writing that they do everything possible to keep customer rates as low as possible,provide the best customer service possible,there is no way I would vote yes to it.In areas where there is no cable or limited broadband,they would have customers over a barrel,and I'm sure they would use that to their advantage given the chance.

I am not a fan of them merging. Case in point... SiriusXM.


Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

SiriusXM merger was bad for the consumer. Yea they kept their promise not to raise package prices but they sure did raise the fees. Anyone with a second or third radio on their account got a rate hike. They took away the free Internet and started charging for it. They added the ever popular music royalty fee. Plus (this one I love) they still sell the best of Sirius and best of XM packages even though they are supposed to be one company. I am so glad I bought 2 lifetimed radios when Stern first came over. Those radios are still going strong 9 years later.

These mergers will never bring prices down. They will kill us with fees even more than they do now.

 

[Peter Parker]

You're making the assumption that D* would be buying Dish. That isn't likely the way a merger would go.

And it was not the way it worked last time.

 

[navychop]

If Sirius and XM had not merged, I don't think either of them would be with us today. At best, Sirius might have survived. Barely.

I like satellite radio. But not so much as to pay what they want for it.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[digitalblue]

And it was not the way it worked last time.

Correct. The last time they tried this DISH was the hunter and DTV was the prey. The plan at the time was that the DTV brand would survive (DISH brand would be retired) due to better brand awareness, but Echo would provide all the equipment.

I'm not saying that roles wouldn't be reversed this time but Charlie has a pretty big ego, controls 80% of the votes, and has a massive bank account to back it up, so no matter the transaction he would easily remain as the largest single shareholder of the combined company. Not to mention if DISH does acquire T-Mobile the combined DISH/T-Mobile entity would have a much larger cap value than DTV.

Can you imagine a combined DISH/T-Mobile/DTV entity? That's what I see happening.

 

[primestar31]

Can you imagine a combined DISH/T-Mobile/DTV entity? That's what I see happening.

I'm pretty sure I saw the results of that on a James Bond movie already. LOL

 

[dare2be]

Can you imagine a combined DISH/T-Mobile/DTV entity? That's what I see happening.

I'm pretty sure I saw the results of that on a James Bond movie already. LOL

Me too. But I saw it on the tv show Get Smart. It was called Kaos.

 

[mike123abc]

Sirrus XM is a bad example. They were not able to demonstrate that separate they would be able to come up with a profitable enterprise. What probably would have happened in the long run is that one or the other would have gone bankrupt, leaving the other one to succeed and be a monopoly anyways.

Dish and DIRECTV are both profitable now. When the first merge attempt happened I believe Dish was slightly profitable and DIRECTV was still showing large losses, and then it was still rejected. Now they are both successful and a 3 way competition between cable/Dish/DIRECTV is working (as well as it can given the content providers).