I preface my comments by saying I like both Dish and Directv and am currently a Dish customer.
As we've all seen, the satellite business has lots of risks ( failed launches, solar panal failures, and various control failures).
I see Directv as the Hare. They chose to own and control their technology, concentrating their resources in the 101 cluster and building unlaunched capacity to backup their system. It works well but is capital intensive and puts lots of eggs in one basket.
I see Dish as the Tortoise. They started down a similar road but recently made a significant change in their business plan when they decided to concentrate on being a content retailer. We are just now starting to see where they are going.
Spinning off their satellite resources has created a new culture in which they are cutting deals with a variety of hardware (satellite) providers to rapidly improve their product with much less capital investment. We see deals being made with Telsat, Ciel, and Quetzsat to use their orbital licenses and satellites to provide US service while moving much of their existing risk over to the Echostar Corp satellite provider.
I am starting to think that Dish (the tortoise) has the better business plan. It provides lower capital risk, the ability to rapidy add capacity when needed, and brings with it, fresh blood and ideas with multiple suppliers providing invovation and competition in the satellite transmission business. The customer (me) should see lower costs and higher quality.
As we've all seen, the satellite business has lots of risks ( failed launches, solar panal failures, and various control failures).
I see Directv as the Hare. They chose to own and control their technology, concentrating their resources in the 101 cluster and building unlaunched capacity to backup their system. It works well but is capital intensive and puts lots of eggs in one basket.
I see Dish as the Tortoise. They started down a similar road but recently made a significant change in their business plan when they decided to concentrate on being a content retailer. We are just now starting to see where they are going.
Spinning off their satellite resources has created a new culture in which they are cutting deals with a variety of hardware (satellite) providers to rapidly improve their product with much less capital investment. We see deals being made with Telsat, Ciel, and Quetzsat to use their orbital licenses and satellites to provide US service while moving much of their existing risk over to the Echostar Corp satellite provider.
I am starting to think that Dish (the tortoise) has the better business plan. It provides lower capital risk, the ability to rapidy add capacity when needed, and brings with it, fresh blood and ideas with multiple suppliers providing invovation and competition in the satellite transmission business. The customer (me) should see lower costs and higher quality.
