Ma Bell Buying A Big DISH?

from the seems-unlikely dept

In early 2003, when DirecTV was in play, one of the rumored bidders was SBC. It was seen as a way for SBC to quickly add video to their bundle and offer a triple play (voice, video, data) in an era before everyone was looking at the quadruple play (with wireless). However, as the price went up, SBC dropped out of the bidding letting News Corp. buy the satellite TV company. A few months later, SBC invested in EchoStar instead and formed a partnership to offer DISH network programming to its customers. Of course, the satellite partnerships from telcos were never real triple play offerings. They don't offer the same synergies of a real telco controlled video offering -- which is why the telcos have all been looking at IPTV offerings, despite the heavy upfront investments required. However, now there's talk that AT&T (same thing as SBC, remember) is possibly kicking the tires for an EchoStar acquisition so they could own DISH outright. The article gives plenty of good reasons why this might not make sense, but never underestimate the egos of the folks in charge when it comes to acquisitions. That said, however, it does seem like a bad idea all around. Beyond the integration issues (and the cost of managing the birds in the sky along with all the terrestrial wires), it could create serious political problems internally between the believers in IPTV and the satellite TV folks. It would seem like the only way this would really make sense is if AT&T has given up on really getting IPTV to work in any reasonable amount of time -- which could mean bad things for the entire IPTV marketplace (especially Microsoft and Verizon, both of whom are betting heavily on IPTV).
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Andrew Strasser, 29 Dec 2005 @ 7:41pm

    personally.

    I think Echostar AT&T, and SBC would all merge together if allowed. This technology won't be a big deal to most of the population for quite some time I would guess. I would be much more worried with the technologies that are happening in this..... N/M everyone is blind



    BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    random667, 29 Dec 2005 @ 7:50pm

    Re: personally.

    I have had phone, dsl, and dish network through sbc for at least a year now.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    owen Butler, 29 Dec 2005 @ 9:30pm

    any good?

    Do they provide a good service ?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Dan, 29 Dec 2005 @ 9:35pm

    No Subject Given

    Andrew, SBC and AT&T have already merged.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Ben McNelly, 30 Dec 2005 @ 6:40am

    hmmm....

    Is thier service any good... You will be hard pressed to find outright SBC fans.


    I was kind of hoping DISH would not be ate up by a telco, but hey what can you do?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Nicholas, 30 Dec 2005 @ 9:56am

    Re: hmmm....

    I have SBC Phone and DSL... Unlimited nationwide calling, a 2gb downstream, and a 512k upstream for under a hundred bucks?

    Oh yeah, I'm happy.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    Jason (profile), 31 Dec 2005 @ 5:30am

    Re: hmmm....

    a 2gb downstream
    GB??? I think you meant MB.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.