WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - A joint venture of rival satellite television providers DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and EchoStar Communications Corp. (DISH.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Wednesday bowed out of the U.S. sale of valuable licenses for advanced wireless services.
The venture, Wireless DBS LLC, had initially showed strong interest in the auction, particularly big regional licenses, and had paid the largest deposit of all 168 bidders that qualified for the sale, $972.5 million.
Analysts had been initially surprised by the level of interest by the top two satellite providers, but they said the combined effort was likely an attempt to win airwaves they could use to offer high-speed Internet access, known as broadband. The Federal Communications Commission is overseeing the auction.
The venture, Wireless DBS LLC, had initially showed strong interest in the auction, particularly big regional licenses, and had paid the largest deposit of all 168 bidders that qualified for the sale, $972.5 million.
Analysts had been initially surprised by the level of interest by the top two satellite providers, but they said the combined effort was likely an attempt to win airwaves they could use to offer high-speed Internet access, known as broadband. The Federal Communications Commission is overseeing the auction.
hes right if you need sat your out where you wont care about two dish's. your just glad to have anything but Dial up. its about the same size as the dish 1000 and same color. dish started starband and directv has left direcway. so the one dish idea has been done and did not seem to catch on. i think too many problems. again people in the country don't care about looks they want it to work really good for a reasonable price. i think wb is not going to last. they are having sever difficulties. and direcway and starband are turning up the heat on them buy lowering cost and improving service.
