GM agrees to sell Hughes unit to Echostar for $25.8 bln

Yahoo/Reuters ^ | October 28, 2001 7:32pm

[Azzurri]

GM AGREES TO SELL HUGHES UNIT TO ECHOSTAR FOR $25.8 BILLION

NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - news) on Sunday agreed to sell its satellite television unit Hughes Electronics Corp. for $25.8 billion in cash and shares to EchoStar Communications Corp. , sources familiar with the negotiations told Reuters.

One person told Reuters that the decision to sell Hughes, the owner of satellite television service provider DirectTV to Echostar was taken at a board meeting which started at 5 p.m. (2200 GMT) in New York and it is still going on.

``Most of the details have been finalised, a few things are still left but its done, its been decided,'' he said.

Echostar declined to comment and neither General Motors nor Hughes were immediately avaiable for comment.

[Azzurri]

Wow, this is big news in the satellite industry. Murdoch drops out last night and now it looks like Echostar will buy up Hughes' DirecTV.

[pnz1]

I wonder what will happen with our local ABC affiliate. Young Broadcasting, which owns it, will not let Dish retransmit due to a dispute over the price. Young was telling people if they want ABC, go to DirectTV or get cable. Cable here was a rip off. We got fewer channels and the rates kept going up. Plus reception was crappy.We haven't been able to see ABC on our Dish for quite a few months, but we don't really miss it, plus we are getting our locals free due to this.

[pnz1]

Re: above post, I THINK it is Young Broadcasting. Sorry, should have made sure about that before posting.

[balls]

Echostar was orininally considered a spoiler whose strategy was to bid up the price and make it very expensive for News Corp. What a surprise!

[Azzurri]

Yes, this seems to be a problem in several cities across the country. Here in Detroit, DISH has yet to get WKBD (UPN affiliate) on the satellite due for the same reasons. The UPN station carries many Red Wings/Pistons/Tigers games so it's a big sticking point in attracting local customers to DISH.

[eddie willers]

What a surprise!

Not if you know Charlie Ergen's history.
(A poker playing good ole boy from Tennessee who done whupped Rupert once)

[pnz1]

They HAD a retransmit agreement for our local ABC station, but I guess upon renewal of agreement, they had disagreement. The local could grant us a waiver to get another ABC feed from somewhere else, but they won't do it. Our local CBS station also pulled this at their renewal, but it was resolved. Like I said, right now we are not paying the monthly fee for our locals because of it, and we don't miss the station. I love our Dish network. In the year and a half that we have had it they have added numerous channels and our rates have not increased. We get 150 channels.

[eddie willers]

The UPN station carries many Red Wings/Pistons/Tigers games so it's a big sticking point in attracting local customers to DISH.

By eliminating the redundency of having to carry every channel (On Dish and DirecTV) plenty of transponders will be freed to comply with 'must carry' rules.
The cable companies will squeel like pigs and mucho lobbying will occur in D.C.

[Paraclete]

This may not pass the anti-trust smell test. Whether it's cable or satellite, the consumer is going to come out on the short end. We need more choices, not fewer.

[John W]

Absolutely wrong.Freeing up duplicated satellite space for locals means I can tell Comcast to go to hell and have Dish only.Saves me $37 a month.

[Paraclete]

Except, when Dish is the only satellite player -- expect the prices to go up.

[snooker]

Yep there goes the price.

Dish put up $500 million in case regulators trash the deal. Hope they do. One choice is no choice.

snooker

[RnMomof7]

UMMMMMMM Wonder if stockholders of GM will benefit..when GM does this we usual get stock in the new company..pretty soon the only thing GM will make is Mexican cars:>(

[Hostage]

Dish Network is worse than awful. DirecTV is much better but lacks service.

Anyone know if there is anything on the horizon that would compete with Satellite or Cable?

[Billy_bob_bob]

I'm a customer of Dish Network and I'm very happy with their service. What problems are you having with Dish?

[XGMan]

DISH works for me also.
Except they could drop at least 100 out of the 150 channels along with the costs, and I'd be happier...

[eddie willers]

expect the prices to go up.

Where did you study economics....Moscow?
Synergies and economies of scale will drive down the price.

[Paraclete]

dream . . . dream . . . dream

[Erasmus]

Where did you study economics....Moscow? Synergies and economies of scale will drive down the price.

The above effects may drive down costs (at least in the minds of the Harvard MBAs), but it's competition or the prospect thereof that drives down price.

[Hostage]

Well for one I asked and paid for two international Russian channels (I wanted to learn Russian). They said Ok, came out (after making me wait all day and then some), took down the DirecTV dish (which I was getting rid of because they weren't carrying the international channels), setup the receiver, downloaded the software and performed the tests. When I asked where are my international stations, the installers said "Oh, it will come through the satellite download in a few minutes. Call this number if it doesn't get through and ask them to check on it."

A minute later, the installer hands me the install and equipment agreement. It has language that I am signing on to 12 months and that the install fee is $99. I look at the installer and ask him what the f*ck? I was told there wasn't any time obligation and the install was free from the promotion. Then I show the installer the promotion card from COSTCO. He says the proverbial "I'm just doing what they tell me man...". I say "Well man, you can take your company's chinese manufactured trash out of house man...". He says, "wait wait, don't get upset let me call in". Then he turns the phone (my phone) over to me. I talk to the install center and after some back and forth to various people, I am told to go ahead and cross out and rewrite the agreement with the terms of the promotion. I tell them my fees start at $500 an hour.

They get me do it after apologizing profusely. I ask about the international channels, they check the order and say "it shows you ordered two Russian-speaking channels." I tell them they are brilliant but ask where the f*uck are these channels. They say I need to call their download center. I hang up, the installer assures me the channels will be functioning momentarily, but he has to go because it's so late.

I let him go against my better judgement. I called the download center an hour later about the international channels. They said they are resending the codes. I check for these channels after another hour and still nothing.

I call about 11pm and a fellow tells me what happened. The dish network repointed the 46.1 satellite (or some such) and the international channels are not available for me. I go near ballistic because I waited a whole day and evening just to find out late at night that I have been scammed. To top it all this fellow tells me it was a mistake and he is deleting the reference to my ordering the international channels!!! So no traceability!

The next say I was out for blood. I took a half day off from work and researched the revised code of Washington for the law on 3-day rescinding contracts. I called Dish Network and told them to cancel the service immediately, to take their equipment off my property and reinstall the DirecTV equipment that they took down, including reinstalling the wiring they said they had to cut. They said I would have to send the receivers back in and someone would be out later to take back their dish. I ask what about my DirecTV equipment? They say sorry, can't touch it or put it back.

This goes on a further but I finally ended up sending a certified letter (return receipt requested) to Charlie A*sHole himself in Colorado Springs. Anyway, you get the picture. Just having to recall it makes my blood boil.