AT&T to drop Dish contract

[broadcasttheworld]

I did not see this one coming! I wonder if they are upset that they could not reach a merger agreement..

AT&T to drop Dish contract - Dallas Business Journal:


Telecom giant AT&T Corp. will end its current contract to sell a product bundle that includes satellite broadcaster Dish Network Corp.'s television packages, the satellite TV company announced Tuesday.
The contract, originally signed in 2003, is set to expire Dec. 31.
Englewood, Colo.-based Dish (Nasdaq: DISH) has been the bundle partner of AT&T in some parts of AT&T territory but not in others. AT&T previously had offered competitor DirecTV's programming in its bundle in the southeastern United States, a holdover arrangement from when it was Bell South territory prior to AT&T's acquisition of Bell South. But AT&T switched to Dish Network there in April.
AT&T has let it be known it plans to pick one bundle partner -- either Dish Network or DirecTV -- nationally before the start of next year.
DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV), controlled by John Malone's Englewood-based Liberty Media Corp., is the nation's largest satellite television programmer, with 16 million households.
Dish Network, founded by Charlie Ergen, is the nation's second largest, with nearly 14 million subscribers. The company makes set-top boxes for AT&T's U-verse digital television sold in some areas over the company's broadband connection.
On June 12, AT&T (NYSE: T) told Dish Network to pay back $500 million plus interest in debt notes held by an AT&T subsidiary. It's not clear if that decision was connected to AT&T's negotiations about the terms of a new satellite TV partnership.
San Antonio-based AT&T last week said it plans to move its headquarters to Dallas by the end of this year. The company currently employs about 16,600 people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Web site: www.att.com

 

[navychop]

This really doesn't sound good.

 

[mike123abc]

The WSJ reported that Dish stated that ATT sent the termination notice to Dish yesterday.

It will be interesting to see how they unwind this. Are they going to attempt to switch all the current customers to U-Verse? Are they just going to turn the accounts over to Dish? ATT did not announce any plans yet.

Dish filing with SEC EchoStar Communications Corporation - Current Report

 

[FitzAusTex]

Karma is an interesting thing...

 

[lern4483]

Hmm, what goes around comes around!

 

[gadgtfreek]

I wonder if Dish does anything right.

 

[riffjim4069]

E* barely broke even with "net subscribers" last quarter while D* continued to grow their subscriber base. DirecTV, Cable Triple Play, FiOS TV, AT&T U-Verse, coupled with their VOOMless DishHD-Too-Little...Too-Late...Too-Lite, not to mention a litanny of ongoing litigation with TiVo and VOOM, may spell trouble for Dish Network.

It's a shame really, we loved the ViP series DVRs, enjoyed the HD linep (minus HD-Lite, of course), and the service was pretty good...BUT, somebody fell asleep at the wheel and IMO are driving away their best customers. Hopefully, getting dumped by AT&T should serve as a much needed wake-up call. FiOS TV will have 2 million subscribers by years end, and AT&T is getting U-Verse into full swing.

 

[riffjim4069]

I wonder if Dish does anything right.

E* did a lot right when it acquired VOOM DBS assets and came out with the ViP receivers...too bad they didn't continue on that path.

 

[Peter Parker]

Slow down guys. This has been rumored for some time. AT&T described it as "routine' "procedural". They intend to set up abidding war between the two DBS providers to become their partner. While this is substantially different from the rumors of a few months ago it does not mean that DISH is out for good---at least not yet. In fac ththe articles say that the two sides are still talking.

I have not been invested in Echostar for some time but if I was I would not panic. Of course ther have been other things that might make me panic but not this.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080701/dishnetwork_att.html?.v=3

 

[gadgtfreek]

Its not that I think this is necessarily bad news, its just that Dish is like the US govt right now on the international scene. They cant do anything right or get any good press. Meanwhile D* is sitting VERY pretty. Spin it how you want, but Dish really needs some positive moves and fast. I think a big step forward(once the new sats up) would be to add a few more national HD's and announce they were passing thru native resolution and going after FIOS. Anything less will just keep them as D*'s ***ch for a long time.

 

[Peter Parker]

Don't get me wrong this is not good new. I was just correcting the twin missconceptions that this was totally unexpected and that it meant the end of the DIS AT&T relationship. that second part might be coming down the road but it is not here just yet.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Don't get me wrong this is not good new. I was just correcting the twin missconceptions that this was totally unexpected and that it meant the end of the DIS AT&T relationship. that second part might be coming down the road but it is not here just yet.

Gotcha.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I hope its true, I loose too many customers to AT&T over bundeling.

We sell the customer DISH service, and then when they call AT&T to get DSL or phone, the customer is then sold a bundeled package and calls to cancel our origional work order.

 

[kovach]

The WSJ reported that Dish stated that ATT sent the termination notice to Dish yesterday.

It will be interesting to see how they unwind this. Are they going to attempt to switch all the current customers to U-Verse? Are they just going to turn the accounts over to Dish? ATT did not announce any plans yet.

Dish filing with SEC EchoStar Communications Corporation - Current Report

While U-Verse is growing, it's availability is not widespread enough to do this, and may never be considering the many rural areas AT&T covers.

 

[rhdj]

I am wondering, I am bundled and still have till March until My contract with dish is up. I also get a discount (employee) and had to sign the 18 month agreement to get the perks. All my friends also had to sign to get some deals(non employee), what happens now. This all could mean nothing and they resign with Dish. I could be Charlie is now getting a taste of his own tactics,which is sweet karma. I would imagine ATT would have to honor any bundles until the end of the contracts they had people sign. I am not even including the Homezone customers. But this is a Dish contract not ATT...Im confused ,where am I ????

 

[Ray_Clum]

This could be a good thing for me...

at&t drops Dish. I lose my $4 discount. However, this will break my free Dish for a year contract 10 months early, and I can drop down to basic landline service (instead of AllDistance), saving $27. I up my cell service one level for $10 more and still come out $13 ahead...

 

[psychicmind]

I'm psychic, I saw it.

 

[Poke]

No surprise here since AT&T is really trying to get their own TV Service up and going.. I think they just used Dish to get to folks in areas where they could not offer them TV Services yet. Now that they are starting to get in more areas just make sense for them to do this. Its a battle between Sat TV and the Cable and Telco Companies for TV Service.

 

[Smith P.]

Actually a battle for our (customer's) money.

 

[tomcrown1]

If Direct TV wins this battle what will Dish do?? sell to Direct TV or partner up with mr Murdoch--Let him own the thing---

Mr Murdoch owning Dish is not that far fetched he at on time was a major investor in Dish and did try to get majorty control.