Does AT&T Really Want DIRECTV Instead Of Dish Network?

[dfergie]

Possibly, but the smart money today is betting that AT&T would prefer Dish. DirecTV shares are up 5.5% in mid-day trading following a Wall Street Journal report that the telco giant initiated conversations about a deal that could be worth $40B. But Dish Network is up even more at 7.5%. “We scratch our heads” at AT&T’s motivation to team with DirecTV because the satellite company “does not have wireless spectrum,” Wells Fargo Securities’ Marci Ryvicker says

deadline.com

 

[GaryPen]

Two words: Charlie Ergen.

 

[navychop]

Two words: Charlie Ergen.

:haha

 

[mike123abc]

Perhaps now Dish has too much spectrum for AT&T to be able to acquire. They do not want to be locked out of auctions.

 

[KAB]

Perhaps now Dish has too much spectrum for AT&T to be able to acquire. They do not want to be locked out of auctions.

Yep.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

Dish could always merge with Verizon or Sprint

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Two words: Charlie Ergen.

I actually sat down and talked with Charlie about this and he said he made a mistake and was trying to get more money.

Wonder if he will make that mistake again?

If he does sell he's still on business since EchoStar controls everything now.


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[dvrexpander]

I hope one of these buys Dish I want their unions to step in and help the working conditions for techs and so on.

 

[Mochuf]

I hope one of these buys Dish I want their unions to step in and help the working conditions for techs and so on.

One of the reasons ATT wants out of the landline business is to leave the unions behind.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Two words: Charlie Ergen.

BOY ,that's the truth !

 

[KAB]

I hope one of these buys Dish I want their unions to step in and help the working conditions for techs and so on.

And then watch the rates rise as the business goes down and the jobs go away.

 

[Teehar]

I mentioned it in the DTV thread but,since it's here too.The last company on the planet that I would want to see buy or merge with Dish,is ATT.Dish or DTV would go straight into the crapper.Worst customer service bar none,and good luck getting something fixed when it's not working.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

I mentioned it in the DTV thread but,since it's here too.The last company on the planet that I would want to see buy or merge with Dish,is ATT.Dish or DTV would go straight into the crapper.Worst customer service bar none,and good luck getting something fixed when it's not working.

Yeah,but it wouldn't be in AT&T's interest to run Directv or Dish into the ground. The customer service they are sucking in,is in services(landlines,DSL/U-Verse(?)) that they want to get out of anyway. Now I don't have AT&T Wireless,so I can't speak for their customer service with that.

 

[ncted]

Yeah,but it wouldn't be in AT&T's interest to run Directv or Dish into the ground. The customer service they are sucking in,is in services(landlines,DSL/U-Verse(?)) that they want to get out of anyway. Now I don't have AT&T Wireless,so I can't speak for their customer service with that.

I haven't had it for a few years, but my folks still have ATT Wireless, and customer service is pretty good from their perspective. It was fine when I was a customer. My wife will be switching back to ATT via AIO as soon as her Verizon contract is up in Aug. My friends with DSL,Uverse, etc. complain constantly.

 

[RandallA]

he said he made a mistake and was trying to get more money.

Charlie said that? Nooooo.

 

[ibanez_ax]

One of the reasons ATT wants out of the landline business is to leave the unions behind.

Wireless and U-Verse are also union shops.

 

[satnewb]

Uverse doesn't fall under the ATT master contract agreement. Couple of my former coworkers are now Uverse techs. They love it as compared to working for Dish. They started off about $4/hr higher that what Dish pays new guys in this area. Said the working conditions are much better and with a lot less bs.

 

[mike123abc]

One of the reasons ATT wants out of the landline business is to leave the unions behind.

The unions are a small part. The main reason is that they have not spent the money needed to maintain and upgrade the copper system to compete with cable. Spending the money on wireless was a lot more profitable. Even there AT&T was famous for under investing, remember all the iPhone capacity problems they had?

I suspect over the long run AT&T would be bad for either satellite company. AT&T will want to cut costs to maximize profits and skimp on satellites. Service would slowly degrade.

 

[Teehar]

Yeah,but it wouldn't be in AT&T's interest to run Directv or Dish into the ground. The customer service they are sucking in,is in services(landlines,DSL/U-Verse(?)) that they want to get out of anyway. Now I don't have AT&T Wireless,so I can't speak for their customer service with that.

Now that's what I call an oxymoron,not you ATT. They swooped right in and bought Bellsouth out,and have proceeded to run it into the ground.Why buy something if you have no intention of taking care of it,making it grow etc etc.ATT has a bad history of doing these sort of things.I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them.

Then the old adage bigger is better comes into play.Show me one example of big companies merging that have been good for the consumer.Bigger is definitely not better imo.

 

[jerryez]

And you all complain abut Charlie. Sound like he is better than ATT.