DISH Network might attempt DirecTV merger again?

by Richard Lawler, posted Aug 6th 2008 at 7:39PM

DirecTV and DISH Network trying to get together again? That's the idea according to the Wall Street Journal, apparently in response to DISH making "a major strategic shift" after losing 25,000 subscribers in Q2. Of course the last time these two tried U + me = Us back in 2001, regulators put the smackdown on the idea, but apparently DISH CEO Charlie Ergen thinks things may be different now. We can see how a 90% drop in subscriber growth (and a blown satellite or two) could cause anyone to reevaluate things, but as our extensive experience watching daytime TV proves, running into a new relationship to escape ones problems never works out long term, but it is interesting to see if either is really willing to stop the constant one-upmanship and concentrate on taking on the cable (& telco) companies together.

[Thanks, Adam]

Filed under: Industry, Regulatory, Satellite

Tags: directv, dish, dish network, DishNetwork, merger, satellite, wsj

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highest Ranked

imonit @ Aug 6th 2008 7:50PM

Most people only have one option in choosing a cable company, I don't see why having only one dish option is that much different. I don't see the drawback for consumers. More content possibilities, NFLST for more people - it might even be what's needed to push cable companies to ala carte. I might be looking at this the wrong way, and I'm sure you'll tell me.

Highly Ranked

deadrody @ Aug 6th 2008 8:00PM

I would also think the approval of the Sirius-XM merger might have something to do with it also. Cable and FIOS, at a minimum, constitute WAY WAY WAY more competition for Dish and DirecTV than does terrestrial radio for XM and Sirius. If that merger was approved, denying a Dish / DirecTV merger is indefensible.

Neutral

Stefan @ Aug 6th 2008 9:27PM

I was thinking the same think when i read this. Would be nice, but i'm sure there will be plenty of lobbiest to make it difficult!

Neutral

EQC @ Aug 6th 2008 10:02PM

...yeah, lobbyists paid by the various CableTV monopolies...

Neutral

DavidB @ Aug 7th 2008 4:28PM

True guys, but even lobbyists couldn't stop XM-Sirius, try as they might for month after month. I too think XM-Sirius going through is what makes even considering a Dish-DirecTV merger feasible now.

Neutral

Marrvia @ Aug 7th 2008 6:22PM

The XM/Sirius merger is a little different than a Dish Network/DirecTV merger. XM and Sirius make their own content, so they can't really monopolize their own content. Satellite TV companies buys the right to use existing channels on their service like Cable TV does. While I don't think it is a monopoly because they do compete with Cable TV, I doubt this would be a good thing for consumers.

Neutral

kcmurphy88 @ Aug 7th 2008 12:01AM

There would be conditions to buy off the objections. Free up Season Ticket to the cable companies; guarantee carriage of all TV stations and subchannels, even in Barrow, Alaska for the NAB; price limits and maybe a la carte for the consumer advocates.

So much probably that DirecTV wouldn't bother. Cheaper to just let DISH go broke when they finally lose the TiVo suit and then buy the assets from the court.

Neutral

WebDev511 @ Aug 7th 2008 3:31AM

That's exactly what I was thinking. Dish thought they were going to save a few bucks by not paying the TiVo license fee, but will most likely go broke because of it.

As a DirecTV subscriber, I'm all for them buying up soon to be circling the drain Dish Network assets.

Neutral

Andy Anonymous @ Aug 7th 2008 12:32AM

And so US antitrust laws continue their slow march toward oblivion, while corporations keep convincing people, somehow, that less competition is better.

Neutral

EQC @ Aug 7th 2008 1:51AM

Depends how you look at the situation....

in most places, a single cable company has been given a monopoly already...and that really pissed me off. Cable prices are way too high...so high I'd rather stick with OTA. And Cable profits are ridiculous -- if you've ever lived in an area with 2 cable companies, you know prices were about 50% of what other places were paying...if one of those companies bought out the other, then you also know prices doubled almost instantaneously.

If Dish and DirectTV get together, the combined company will essentially have twice the number of satellites in the air. If each can carry 100+ HD channels now, the two together could carry 200+ channels in HD almost immediately...they wouldn't both be transmitting the same data redundantly anymore.

Maybe...just maybe...Dish + DirectTV united would cut the combined operating costs, allowing them to lower prices while increasing the quality of the product and choices for consumers.

Maybe, just maybe (I really am hoping here, and I know it) prices will drop enough that they can start forcing cable to offer lower prices and better service too.

When you think about the cable monopolies...all they've really got to do is maintain some 50 year old wiring to every house in America. To upgrade service, just change out a few machines on the ground to offer higher bandwidth, etc. The satellite companies have to launch freaking satellites into orbit, dealing with issues like failed launches, etc. It's much more complex and expensive...so their prices end up pretty similar to Cable's. Maybe if the two companies get together to combine resources, they'll be able to really stick it to those cable companies...

Of course, without each other's competition, and a new superiority over Cable, prices might just go up and we'll be screwed. Dammit...

Highly Ranked

Andy Anonymous @ Aug 7th 2008 2:21AM

While some of those things may happen, in the long term, when competition is reduced or eliminated, it's always the consumer who suffers. The corporations are only too happy to point to ways in which we may possibly benefit in the short term, but make no mistake: without competition, innovation and customer service inevitably fall, and prices inevitably rise. When a company can stick it to you because you've got no other choice, they will.

Neutral

Ryan @ Sep 21st 2008 9:05PM

I can't agree with you more. I don't understand why people continually put there trust in "big" anything. When something gets deregulated it almost immediately turns bad for consumers. If you don't believe that look at your cell phone, tv, or phone bills. And less choices means more costs. When there is no competition it breeds complacency. If the thought of 200+ HD channels overnight wins you over, imagine having those same 200 channels for the next 5 years because no one is trying to outpace each other. The perfect example of this is cable. Most people I know only have one choice for a cable provider due to tight restrictions on the licenses to sell tv programming, and cable bills are rediculous compared o the other options out there. People need to stop with the "it won't happen this time" mentality, and look at the lessons in history, because a business is just that, a business. Profits are the bottom line. They are competitive now simply because there is competition.

Neutral

cb @ Aug 7th 2008 1:02AM

Anybody partnering with Charlie Ergan is a complete idiot. Dish Network is a mess. The only people that enjoy it are the people too stupid to admit Disk stinks because they are paying $150/mo - the rest of us are trapped in our contract while they marketing us the same dog and pony show and increase rates.

I never thought I'd see the day I regretted leaving Cable.

Neutral

squiggleslash @ Aug 7th 2008 7:09AM

Who the hell pays $150 a month? I know Dish nickles-and-dimes you, but our Dish bill, which includes the top-200, DishHD, HD locals, CineMAX, and a 622 - an excellent DVR - barely scrapes half that.

We did shop around when we went HD, comparing our local cable operator (Comcast, formerly Adelphia) and DirecTV. DirecTV was absurdly expensive, with it costing in excess of $80 (and that's just the advertised charges) per month for HD services that included what we want, and Comcast in this area wasn't doing HD or DVRs - we'd have had to buy a HD TiVo and subscribe to it just to get something comparable, total cost against going way above Dish's for inferior service.

Our complaints right now about Dish are the nickle-and-diming and inability to get accurate pricing answers until your bill arrives. Even with that, it's still one of the least expensive operators in the country.

Neutral

GhostDoggy @ Aug 7th 2008 6:34AM

Since the FCC decided to not block the XM-Sirius merger based on a completely 180º form of logic, I see this as maybe being a chance. BUT, would the merger at this point be worth it? Converting several million customer STBs would be a huge financial stake.

Neutral

Clark @ Aug 7th 2008 10:48AM

WOW, a 2ge+her reference? I thought I was the only one who saw that. Kudos for really stepping out of the regular clichés!

"I know my calculus..."

Neutral

gr689 @ Aug 7th 2008 11:19AM

DISH needs to market market market.

I really don't care what you fools say about DISH because if you look at Dishs HD compared to Direct it is better and actually the bandwidth is way higher than Direct. It looks really great!! I personally really like DISH alot but you Direct Tv snobs all snub your noses to it; And the truth is only because Directtv has a better look to it and way more ads, just more zombies to add to the ideologic stew.

There biggest mistake was not to get a jump on the HD stuff sooner. Voom just wasn't cutting it. They needed to concentrate on the Tivo mess, way more ads to compete with Direct and kill off the whole mobile tv junk. They made mistakes but I really hope that they get back on there feet. I have been seeing new ads on tv recently; the TURBO HD ADS are pretty good, they still need more more more. I really the think the competition will only benenfit us consumers. I say get rid of Charlie DONKTARD who seems ready to lose instead of win.

Neutral

mntwister @ Aug 7th 2008 12:58PM

I agree with you on that one. Personally, I am a very happy Dish customer, I am NOT paying 150 a month (as some fanboy says earlier in this thread) and I have a dvr and I get the high def channels. I have the external hard drives) so far 4-750gb discs filled with almost 500 HD movies), I get friendly customer service when I call and have rarely had to do that, rarely have an outage, and think the Dish DVR is far superior to any in the video business anywhere.

Yes they made the mistake of not jumping on the HD stuff sooner, they started 6 months late. I think the 25,000 that left are the ones who were so mad they removed the VOOM channels. I was upset as well, but not enough to leave, since then they have continually added channels, and are ahead of those promised dates, and are adding locals in HD every month so coverage will be almost complete by late fall.

But, we still have, as we did in the blu-ray/hd-dvd wars, fanboys shouting for the death of the system they have NOT chosen. What a waste of time, don't they realize that competition is what keeps prices down and is good for all of us? Personally, judging by the changes Dish has made in the last 4 months and is going to make, plus the big promotional push they are going to be starting, I think once again they will do just fine and compete well with Directv. I do not believe the Tivo suit is going to bankrupt them, these companies are covered by insurance for libel.

Neutral

Lkr @ Aug 7th 2008 2:03PM

As a Dish sub, I'm all for this as long as Sunday Ticket becomes available to me.

Neutral

BrainDamaged @ Aug 7th 2008 5:00PM

satellite radio and TV are completely different business models. Satellite TV will have a harder time getting such a merger as they have to deal with remote areas of the country that still cannot even get cable access.

If you let these 2 merge, there would be a monopoly in those areas.

Neutral

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