URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_4452173,00.html
TV rivals talk broadband
By Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News
February 9, 2006
DirecTV Group confirmed it's in discussions with rival EchoStar Communications to create a wireless high-speed Internet service.
DirecTV Chief Executive Chase Carey told Reuters in an interview that the company has held discussions with Douglas County-based EchoStar and a number of other companies, but no decisions have been made. EchoStar spokesman Marc Lumpkin declined to comment.
"If something involved EchoStar, there are benefits (to) it. . . . There would be greater scales to distribution," Carey told Reuters. But "there are complexities in additional partners."
Speculation about such an alliance has circulated since Rupert Murdoch, chairman of DirecTV controlling shareholder News Corp., told investors in early January that the company may spend $1 billion to build a new broadband network. That would give the satellite-TV providers a way to counter cable rivals' bundle of video, high-speed Internet and phone service.
DirecTV, the nation's largest satellite-TV service, has said it's investigating WiMax, a land-based wireless technology that can transmit data 10 times faster than services used by telephone and cable services.
El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV has 15 million customers, compared with 12 million at EchoStar's Dish Network. The rivals have worked together in the past on some lobbying issues, but this venture would mark their biggest alliance to date.
TV rivals talk broadband
By Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News
February 9, 2006
DirecTV Group confirmed it's in discussions with rival EchoStar Communications to create a wireless high-speed Internet service.
DirecTV Chief Executive Chase Carey told Reuters in an interview that the company has held discussions with Douglas County-based EchoStar and a number of other companies, but no decisions have been made. EchoStar spokesman Marc Lumpkin declined to comment.
"If something involved EchoStar, there are benefits (to) it. . . . There would be greater scales to distribution," Carey told Reuters. But "there are complexities in additional partners."
Speculation about such an alliance has circulated since Rupert Murdoch, chairman of DirecTV controlling shareholder News Corp., told investors in early January that the company may spend $1 billion to build a new broadband network. That would give the satellite-TV providers a way to counter cable rivals' bundle of video, high-speed Internet and phone service.
DirecTV, the nation's largest satellite-TV service, has said it's investigating WiMax, a land-based wireless technology that can transmit data 10 times faster than services used by telephone and cable services.
El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV has 15 million customers, compared with 12 million at EchoStar's Dish Network. The rivals have worked together in the past on some lobbying issues, but this venture would mark their biggest alliance to date.
