Posted on 08/05/2008 4:43:02 PM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
Washington, D.C. (August 5, 2008) -- Dish Network is considering merging with rival satcaster DIRECTV, The Wall Street Journal reported today.
The newspaper reports that the companies have not discussed a formal proposal, but have had "general discussions" about the idea.
The two satcasters attempted to merge several years ago, but the FCC rejected the plan in 2002 on grounds that it would be anti-competitive.
However, in the years since, other video competition has emerged, including TV services from telco giants AT&T and Verizon and set-top Net TV services from Apple TV, Amazon, TiVo and Netflix.
WSJ reports that Dish CEO Ergen believes that federal regulators may be more receptive to a merger at this time, particularly after the agency just approved the satellite radio merger between XM and Sirius.
The two satcaster could not be reached for comment, Reuters reports.
The pinged subjects will be those of HDTV technology, satellite/cable HD, OTA (over the air with various roof top and indoor antennas) HD reception. Broadcast specials, Blu-ray/HD-DVD, and any and all subjects relating to HDTV.
Las Vegas Dave
I wanted this to go through last time, and I hope it goes through this time, although I wonder who would be buying who. Last time Charlie Ergen was trying to buy DirecTV. This time, maybe he wants to sell.
Oy vey!
Maybe this will get my locals in HD sooner...
The question is will that make sat tv more competitve?
I am embroiled in my anual war with Charter over service and prices. They always offer lessand cost more.
I would cease cable if I thought switching to Satellite and DSL weren’t such a hassle and there was a genuine price differential.
I don’t want them to merge. I’m getting ready to switch over to Direct because I HATE Dish. They have some of the stupidest people working for them. It’s pathetic when you can understand someone with an accent from India better than you can understand a gurl from New Joise. I let them charge monthly fees on my credit card every month until I caught them taking money for various other things. When I caught them, they refunded $30.00 of those charges back but them I caught them again, so I took my authorization back and won’t let them charge to my card again. I don’t know what they’re doing but EVERY month my bill is a different amount. Anyway, I’m sick of dealing with their stupid employees, so I’m going to switch to Direct. Now, I guess I’ll be getting the same stupid employees. LOL
Ah jeez, whenever these companies merge; they turn into you know what.
And they will raise the prices considerably.
If a merger could preserve the better aspects of each company, and slough the weaker parts (using DirectTV’s customer service while ditching Dish’s incompetent CSRs, for example), this could be promising. Satellite capacity, especially for HD programming, would be virtually doubled overnight. The downside is that without competitive pressure, service and pricing could go to he!!, leaving many with no real alternative. My current service, Dish, has made strong efforts to satisfy certain complaints I’ve had when I’ve let them know that, in the absence of action, my next step would be switching to DirectTV. My local cable co is beyond inadequate in every regard - so for the merged company it could well be “Their (monopoly) way or the highway.”
google FTA and discover the possibilities.
I am getting ready to DUMP DirectTV...my HD signal doesn’t work for ANY of my local channels, and several of my regular cable.
Called and asked for assistance, they want to charge $80 to come out and fix the problem...even after all their “try this reset, blah blah....” remedies didn’t work.
I’ve been w/them for more than 5 years, but ever since signing up for their HDTV product, I’ve had nothing but hassles with the signal.
Dish has overall been quite good for me—including the best DVR available.
If I could keep that, and get NFL Sunday Ticket, I’d be a pretty darn happy camper.
Also, with all the combined birds they have, and eliminating duplicate channels, they could vastly increae their bandwidth in very short order.
Beware DirecTV’s early termination fees. They are the devil.
Being a long time customer does not immunize you. They will use anything they can to reset the contract clock. If a receiver needs to be replaced, your contract starts at zero again.
Evil.
Being a long time customer does not immunize you. They will use anything they can to reset the contract clock. If a receiver needs to be replaced, your contract starts at zero again.
Evil.
Thanks for the info. Dish Network is the same way. You have to sign a 2 year contract. I'm way past that.
Dish is way better than DirecTV in that regard. As I said, if your receiver goes bad and they send you a replacement, DirecTV will reset your contract as if it were starting from Day 1 again. So, even if you’ve been with them for five years, if you terminate a few months later, they will ding you with an early termination fee.
And they will charge your credit card (or your bank account, if that’s the way you’ve been paying them) without getting your authorization, and they’ll do that within a few days of your termination.
DirecTV is evil.
It’s why I dropped DTV after eight years. I had the triple LNB HD dish and Sunday ticket. Loved having all those games. Once they notified me that I would have to upgrade to the five LNB system in order to keep getting the NFL in HD, I decided to drop them because of the two year commitment and having to rely on DTV for installation, maintenance and repair due to the more complex alignment requirements.
I heard and read too many stories of people being told that a tech wouldn’t be available for a couple weeks to address their problems. I prefer to maintain the system myself but it’s not really possible if you don’t have the right equipment. My old dish was just clearing some trees in my neighbor’s back yard, and I was afraid of having line of sight issues with the newer dish while in the middle of a two year contract.
Just googled “directv sucks” and read the horror stories.
Yes, well, that is fine. Whatever they want to try and pull is cool. If they don’t fix the problem, I’ll cost them more in lost business...because every single friend I have will hear about their behavior. It’ll hurt them more than me.
Frankly, I think they’ll fix the problem, thus making me a happy customer—and my friends will hear about that, too.
UPDATE
Liberty’s Malone Downplays DIRECTV-Dish Merger
The executive notes possible regulatory obstacles.
By Swanni
Washington, D.C. (August 12, 2008) — Liberty Media Chairman John Malone yesterday said a merger between Dish Network and Liberty-controlled DIRECTV would likely face serious regulatory obstacles.
The merger rumor surfaced last week after some analysts speculated that federal officials could be inclined to support it, following their approval of the XM-Sirius satellite radio merger.
DIRECTV and Dish tried to merge several years ago, but the FCC rejected it in 2002 on grounds that it would be anti-competitive.
In an earnings call following release of the company’s second quarter report, Malone noted that the merger would be “very synergistic,” meaning the company could save money on duplicate efforts and combine resources on costly projects, such as the expansion of their high-def lineups.
But Malone and other Liberty executives expressed surprise that analysts and journalists believe that the FCC would approve the deal.
“I don’t understand why the journalists all of a sudden discovered the potential of a merger of Echo (the former name for Dish Network) DIRECTV,” Malone said. “We’ve talked about it frequently in the past. It would be very synergistic if it were doable. However, we don’t see that the regulatory environment has changed since the last time we made comments on the subject. We think it would be problematic to try and merge the two companies in the current regulatory environment.”
Liberty CEO Greg Maffei echoed Malone’s remarks, saying that market conditions have not changed to the extent that it would encourage federal regulators to approve the deal.
“Obviously, there are a ton of synergies out there. That deal had challenges once. Whether it could be done today in a different environment, I don’t know enough about,” he said.
LOL. Since when has that ever stopped anyone.
UPDATE ON DISH
Dish Network: 1st to Offer All MPEG-4
The satcaster says it delivers a better picture.
By Swanni
Washington, D.C. (August 25, 2008) — Dish Network says it’s the first TV provider to deliver all SD and HD programming in the MPEG-4 video coding standard.
In a statement released today, Dish Network says MPEG-4 offers a superior picture to MPEG-2, which is used in part by other TV providers. Satellite rival DIRECTV uses a mix of MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 technologies to deliver its SD and HD channels.
Dish said today that the move to all-MPEG-4 delivery of channels is another first for the company. The satcaster recently launched a PPV movie service that it says offers 1080p high-def video, something that DIRECTV says it will do later this year.
“DISH Network once again leads the pack in providing customers with an unparalleled entertainment experience. Our complete MPEG-4 solution – which will offer up to 150 HD channels by the end of the year – uses the most advanced technology in the industry to deliver the best quality picture to any television set in the home, perfect for those who have or are considering upgrading to high definition,” said Jessica Insalaco, Dish’s chief marketing officer.
Good job announcing this one month after DirecTV began rolling out MPEG4 on select channels, Dish.
I’m glad I’ve got DirecTV.
< snip > MPEG4 on select channels < /snip >
Exactly what DISH is doing now, but by the end of the year (as stated in the article) “ALL” DISH SD and HD will be MPEG-4.
LVD
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.