Echostar Earnings Call Confrence Recap.

[KKlare]

Is there not a way short of merger? They could, say, have shared facilities--use the same satellites, uplinks and programming sources. They could maintain separate, but compatible, receiver designs and billing.

This would improve the bandwidth problem and avoid the wasteful duplication of space hardware while keeping independent and competitive companies.

-Ken

 

[riffjim4069]

Is there not a way short of merger? They could, say, have shared facilities--use the same satellites, uplinks and programming sources. They could maintain separate, but compatible, receiver designs and billing.

This would improve the bandwidth problem and avoid the wasteful duplication of space hardware while keeping independent and competitive companies.

-Ken

Personally, I would love to see universal DBS standards...keep your hardware and jump between E* and D* by only changing the encryption card.

 

[Juan]

Is there not a way short of merger? They could, say, have shared facilities--use the same satellites, uplinks and programming sources. They could maintain separate, but compatible, receiver designs and billing.

This would improve the bandwidth problem and avoid the wasteful duplication of space hardware while keeping independent and competitive companies.

-Ken

That would be kinda like choosing between chevy and gmc today its more like choosing between chevy and ford

 

[Jhon69]

That would be kinda like choosing between chevy and gmc today its more like choosing between chevy and ford

Well,if that's the only choice,I'd pick a Hyundai.

 

[Stargazer]

Actually if they made all the hardware standard between both of them it would help the consumers switch from one provider to another easier since they could keep the same hardware. This may be why Dish and DirecTv does not want to do this because it would make it too easy for someone to switch with just a phone call. On the other hand it would save costs of having to provide new hardware and pay for installation when someone wants to switch service. The hardware could be made in bulk make it much cheaper. MUCH more satellite space would be available.

This would be similar to how C-Band works. Use the same satellites, same hardware, different providers. Why not? Dish Network and DirecTv could present this to the FCC as that as a comparison. Why let C-Band do it and not Dish/Direct?

The bad thing is that the hackers would hit this extremely hard with the one standard for all.

 

[navychop]

I agree with Juan.

Fiber will cut into some of the cream, but never in our lifetimes reach everywhere satellite can. It will be many years before fiber reaches a significant percentage of the population. Coax cable infrastructure is expensive and difficult to maintain. I believe the cost per customer CAN be lower for satellite, once they reach some critical mass. Broadband comes in many flavors and is unevenly available to the population- I am moving across from a University and will no longer have DSL available! IPTV has it's own limitations- congesting the Internet is just one. You might get only 1 - 3 HD programs delivered at a time. Coax cable may move to a form of this model also. That second or fourth TV viewer is out of luck. Internet infrastructure will need massive upgrades to support widespread IPTV.

Merger? I hoped they would, last time. But the FCC last time insisted on competition in satellite providers. They weren't too concerned about satellite vs cable. Sure, they can say things have changed now, but the appearance, and at least some of the reality, will be that they are favoring Rupert Murdoch. We are far better off with Charlie than Darth Murdoch.