Overall I think it’s cool what AT&T is trying to do but for me it’s too early to jump the ship. Its going to cost them some major bucks to do this mainly do to they are going to half to run a lot of fiber. There will be some areas that will be ready to go for the Home Zone but their will be others that will half to wait to get this type of service. But it also sound like Dish and Direct are looking into IPTV which they could do. Dish has the port and they are already doing things with SBC or AT&T they can just use SBC or AT&T to get the broadband to do something like this or combination of things.
Weighing A Potential EchoStar-DirecTV Merger
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never, it would mean more HD for us DTV users. Nothing that good can happen to us. So no, bookmark this post. It wont happen anytime soon.
I dont understand how cable is "not" a monopoly anymore. Are there municipalities that you can choose cable companies? or is it stuff like fios that makes cable not a monopoly anymore?
I dont understand how cable is "not" a monopoly anymore. Are there municipalities that you can choose cable companies? or is it stuff like fios that makes cable not a monopoly anymore?
Poke said:Yeah I agree with you on your points Scott. But what worries me the most is that sometimes when companies merge the overall service gets worse. Then sometimes you have more loops to jump through to get what you want. Like when you can in for something CSR will half to start asking are you a Dish customer or Direct. To me in these types of companies kind of like tech companies when they merge things seem to get worse. Overall they might save money and most times companies merge due to one having money issues. So the other one bails out the one with the money issue. Right now Dish stock is a lot higher than Direct but if this does happen. In many cases some CEO's or upper management will leave the company afterwards which is another hit to the company. Either way I can see good in this but right now I think their just too many negative things that could happen if they do merge. Again it’s going to half to go through the FCC but we will wait and see.
Poke, it is not the stock price that matters when determining a company's strength in the marketplace. A better indicator of a company's strength is their market capitalization, or the value of all of their stock shares. As of this morning Echostar had a Market Cap. of 14.2 billion dollars, while DirecTV has a Market Cap. of 21.2 billion dollars.
Market Cap. alone is not sufficient in determining a company's strength. Other factors have to be taken into account as well, such as amount of debt, type of debt, income, earnings/losses, etc. These indicators all have to be weighed together to get a true picture of a company's strength in the marketplace.
As it stands now, DirecTV has a better balance sheet then Echostar. With their parent company of News Corp helping support them, they are in a much better position to obtain Echostar, then the other way around.
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Scott Greczkowski said:This is just generation 1 of the AT&T Homezone.
Lets just put it this way I know quite a few channels that will be making themself available as IPTV services soon (including Starz)
This is just the beginning.
If we're talking about HD channels; that's some serious bandwidth.
Let's assume for a moment we have highly efficient MPEG-4/H.264 AVC compression and we're able to deliver a channel in 10 Mbits/second.
That's doable today for the few that have FiOS. Now, add TV2 to that == 20 Mbits/second. TV3 == 30 Mbits / second.
I don't see the infrastructure as growing fast enough to support this; even with FiOS.
Best,
Well either way what ever happens I will stay with Dish. I will never go back to cable again thats for sure. All I want no matter what they do I just dont want things to get hosed which any many cases with merges they do. So right now we all will just play the waiteing game to see what happens.
Cable is a monopoly when there is no competition from other sources. But with Fios and IPTV in a market, the game changes and is changing. So when I say the definition of monopoly has changed, that's what i'm trying to say. Things are changing so fast in this industry that I can't believe the FCC would not let Direct and dish merger, they will just be another player in the game, a different outlet to get services from.newsposter said:
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_4063441
Shares of Douglas County-based EchoStar Communications Corp. rose to a 17-month high Monday on speculation that rival DirecTV Group Inc. may bid on the company.
Officials at both satellite-TV companies had no comment on the reports Monday. Such a merger would raise significant antitrust hurdles, but analysts said the argument could be made that a combined DirecTV EchoStar could more effectively provide broadband services and compete against cable-TV and telecommunications companies that are offering video and Internet services.
At last week's Allen & Co. summit of media moguls in Sun Valley, Idaho, speculation intensified about Echo Star's future. News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, whose company controls DirecTV, attended the event, as did Charlie Ergen, Echo Star's chairman, chief executive and co-founder.
Any decision to sell the company would rest solely with Ergen, who controls more than 90 percent of the company's voting-share power.
"Charlie has three choices. He can be acquired by DirecTV (or) AT&T or do a leveraged buyout and take the company private," Kaufman Bros. analyst Todd Mitchell said in a recent interview. "If he takes the company private, he still hasn't done anything about his competitive position."
Shares of EchoStar, the nation's second-largest satellite-TV provider, closed up $1.89, or 6.2 percent, at $32.52 on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Monday. Shares climbed as high as $32.80 in early-morning trading.
EchoStar shares last hit $32.52 on Feb. 17, 2005.
Shares of El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV closed up 8 cents to $16.49 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. The stock has gained 17 percent this year. DirecTV has more than 15 million customers. EchoStar has 12.3 million.
At the Sun Valley conference
last week, News Corp.'s Murdoch "dismissed the idea that (EchoStar's) Ergen would sell," the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. "But others at the conference said the wily Ergen had been telling guests that a merger could save $3 billion in expenses."
In January, analysts raised the possibility of an EchoStar sale to San Antonio, Texas- based AT&T Corp. Ergen shot down that idea, stating that the company wasn't for sale. EchoStar has a marketing partnership with AT&T. DirecTV has a similar agreement with Denver-based Qwest.
In 2002, Ergen attempted a merger with DirecTV, then controlled by Hughes Electronics. That attempt faltered after it failed to pass antitrust review by the Federal Communications Commission. Murdoch's News Corp. eventually acquired control of DirecTV.
"It's too complex, too close on the heels of what went down (four) years ago," said Jimmy Schaeffler, senior multichannel analyst for the Carmel Group.
Satellite-TV providers' dire need for a high-speed Internet and telephone offering is fueling the speculation.
EchoStar is "extremely worried about the broadband play," Schaeffler said
Well Dish again could just get their broadband from SBC or AT&T provide the service to Dish Customer.
Shares of Douglas County-based EchoStar Communications Corp. rose to a 17-month high Monday on speculation that rival DirecTV Group Inc. may bid on the company.
Officials at both satellite-TV companies had no comment on the reports Monday. Such a merger would raise significant antitrust hurdles, but analysts said the argument could be made that a combined DirecTV EchoStar could more effectively provide broadband services and compete against cable-TV and telecommunications companies that are offering video and Internet services.
At last week's Allen & Co. summit of media moguls in Sun Valley, Idaho, speculation intensified about Echo Star's future. News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, whose company controls DirecTV, attended the event, as did Charlie Ergen, Echo Star's chairman, chief executive and co-founder.
Any decision to sell the company would rest solely with Ergen, who controls more than 90 percent of the company's voting-share power.
"Charlie has three choices. He can be acquired by DirecTV (or) AT&T or do a leveraged buyout and take the company private," Kaufman Bros. analyst Todd Mitchell said in a recent interview. "If he takes the company private, he still hasn't done anything about his competitive position."
Shares of EchoStar, the nation's second-largest satellite-TV provider, closed up $1.89, or 6.2 percent, at $32.52 on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Monday. Shares climbed as high as $32.80 in early-morning trading.
EchoStar shares last hit $32.52 on Feb. 17, 2005.
Shares of El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV closed up 8 cents to $16.49 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. The stock has gained 17 percent this year. DirecTV has more than 15 million customers. EchoStar has 12.3 million.
At the Sun Valley conference
last week, News Corp.'s Murdoch "dismissed the idea that (EchoStar's) Ergen would sell," the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. "But others at the conference said the wily Ergen had been telling guests that a merger could save $3 billion in expenses."
In January, analysts raised the possibility of an EchoStar sale to San Antonio, Texas- based AT&T Corp. Ergen shot down that idea, stating that the company wasn't for sale. EchoStar has a marketing partnership with AT&T. DirecTV has a similar agreement with Denver-based Qwest.
In 2002, Ergen attempted a merger with DirecTV, then controlled by Hughes Electronics. That attempt faltered after it failed to pass antitrust review by the Federal Communications Commission. Murdoch's News Corp. eventually acquired control of DirecTV.
"It's too complex, too close on the heels of what went down (four) years ago," said Jimmy Schaeffler, senior multichannel analyst for the Carmel Group.
Satellite-TV providers' dire need for a high-speed Internet and telephone offering is fueling the speculation.
EchoStar is "extremely worried about the broadband play," Schaeffler said
Well Dish again could just get their broadband from SBC or AT&T provide the service to Dish Customer.
I feel that this will only happen WHEN ATT and Verizon have their IPTV service available to the majority of homeowners throughout the entire US like the satellite companies do now, and not until then. The IPTV offerings are simply not available to enough households to make them a serious threat on a national scale. I agree IPTV is a great thing and will cause the satellite and cable companies to shape up their offerings and service, but IPTV is still new and too limited in its availability. Next year by this time should be interesting to see just how good IPTV is for us the consumer and bad for cable and satellite companies... JMHO
Hmm check this out since we have been talking about IPTV.
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/07/18/News/336914.html
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK - Telephone giant AT&T, making a bid to provide Internet-based video services in the capital city, released a poll Monday that showed a majority of city residents want competition for existing cable television services.
Rival cable franchisee Comcast said that while customers support the idea of competition in general, the deal being offered by AT&T was unfair.
The competing results were released a day before the Little Rock city board was scheduled to vote on the telephone company's proposal at a Tuesday meeting.
AT&T said its poll showed 76 percent of respondents said they would strongly favor the city allowing another company to compete with Comcast Cable. Another 15 percent said they would somewhat favor competition.
AT&T commissioned the poll by Opinion Research Associates of Little Rock, which surveyed 503 adults by telephone between July 13 and July 16. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.5 percent.
Comcast released its own poll showing that 62 percent of its customers in Little Rock gave the company's service a positive rating.
The poll was based on a telephone survey of 400 registered voters in Little Rock. Seventy-one percent of respondents were Comcast subscribers and 62 percent of those gave a positive rating to their cable service. Global Strategy Group of New York conducted the survey July 5-6, and the poll has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.
"The main point we'd like to make is, we've never been against competition," said Mike Wilson, Comcast's vice president of government affairs. "We want fair competition where people play by the same rules. AT&T wants approval of a draft agreement that still leaves a lot of questions, like what neighborhoods would be served by IPTV and a satellite dish."
IPTV is the acronym for Internet Protocol Television, where video is provided through telephone lines.
Not all phone systems in the city have been upgraded to the level that they can provide IPTV, said Ron Dedman, director of external affairs for AT&T in Arkansas.
However, he said AT&T will offer video services throughout the city by offering a dish service to neighborhoods without access to IPTV, Dedman said at a news conference.
No cable provider competing for a franchise has been allowed to provide services without specifying where and what kind of service it would provide, said both Wilson and Len Pitcock, executive director of the Arkansas Cable Telecommunications Association.
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/07/18/News/336914.html
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK - Telephone giant AT&T, making a bid to provide Internet-based video services in the capital city, released a poll Monday that showed a majority of city residents want competition for existing cable television services.
Rival cable franchisee Comcast said that while customers support the idea of competition in general, the deal being offered by AT&T was unfair.
The competing results were released a day before the Little Rock city board was scheduled to vote on the telephone company's proposal at a Tuesday meeting.
AT&T said its poll showed 76 percent of respondents said they would strongly favor the city allowing another company to compete with Comcast Cable. Another 15 percent said they would somewhat favor competition.
AT&T commissioned the poll by Opinion Research Associates of Little Rock, which surveyed 503 adults by telephone between July 13 and July 16. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.5 percent.
Comcast released its own poll showing that 62 percent of its customers in Little Rock gave the company's service a positive rating.
The poll was based on a telephone survey of 400 registered voters in Little Rock. Seventy-one percent of respondents were Comcast subscribers and 62 percent of those gave a positive rating to their cable service. Global Strategy Group of New York conducted the survey July 5-6, and the poll has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.
"The main point we'd like to make is, we've never been against competition," said Mike Wilson, Comcast's vice president of government affairs. "We want fair competition where people play by the same rules. AT&T wants approval of a draft agreement that still leaves a lot of questions, like what neighborhoods would be served by IPTV and a satellite dish."
IPTV is the acronym for Internet Protocol Television, where video is provided through telephone lines.
Not all phone systems in the city have been upgraded to the level that they can provide IPTV, said Ron Dedman, director of external affairs for AT&T in Arkansas.
However, he said AT&T will offer video services throughout the city by offering a dish service to neighborhoods without access to IPTV, Dedman said at a news conference.
No cable provider competing for a franchise has been allowed to provide services without specifying where and what kind of service it would provide, said both Wilson and Len Pitcock, executive director of the Arkansas Cable Telecommunications Association.
kissthesky said:
I'm not arguing the sentiment, but this has been the ongoing party line for the past 6 or seven buy-out/merger rumors starting in 1997 with A Sky B / Dish merger (Rupert's first attempt at DBS). The net result, Rupert lost EVERYTHING in DBS and Dish got two satellite (E*5 & 6) and 29 transponders at 110°.
Each time some one would say exactly what is quoted above.
Eventually, I'm sure some one will buy/merge with/take over Dish. But again, a broken clock is right twice a day.
See ya
Tony
I think AT&T is.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/18/Rank_1.html
AT&T 49th and News Corp 130th.
1.Citigroup
2.General Electric
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/18/Rank_1.html
AT&T 49th and News Corp 130th.
1.Citigroup
2.General Electric
SummitAdvantageRetailer said:
Not including SBC revenues, AT&T is just about 2x bigger than News Corp in the 2006 Fortune 500 listing. $43,862 mln vs $23,859 mln.
*edit* I'm not fully sure if AT&T's numbers includes SBC or not, but doesnt really matter.
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