Dish And DirecTV Figure If XM And Sirius Can Merge...
from the try-try-again dept
You may remember back in 2001 that EchoStar, then owners of the DISH Network, tried to buy DirecTV from then owner Hughes (who was owned by GM at the time). However, after the Justice Department said no to the deal over antitrust concerns, it fell apart. However, the rumors going around are that the two companies (now just DISH Network and DirecTV, sans various parent companies) are thinking about trying again. Apparently, they believe that the regulatory and competitive environment that doomed round 1 wouldn't happen in round 2. And, of course, this time around, they can point to the fact that the two satellite radio systems, XM and Sirius, were allowed to merge (even if it took a year and a half).
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Filed Under: antitrust, mergers, satellite tv
Companies: directv, dish network
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Re:
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Murdoch
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2008/04/murdoch
More Murdoch ownership is bad for all of us.
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Dish Network and Direct TV want to merge.
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Commercials
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Not quite the same
For radio, no matter where you go in the US (except way out in the boonies) you can get over the air AM and FM broadcasts. You also have home, auto, and portable audio players that have tuners, play CDs, or digital media.
For TV, you can get over the air broadcasts of a few channels. At home, you can get at least one cable company and many places only have one cable provider. At home you can play video content from DVDs but the delay is considerable. Auto and portable video is just beginning to get started but it's not prevalent - count how many sets of headphones you see compared to people watching video on the go.
I haven't yet decided exactly where I stand on this issue, but comparing the radio and tv markets as if they were one and the same isn't correct.
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Murdoch
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Food for thought
DTH television is in the same state, especially now that television shows and movies are available for download to a variety of devices that sit comfortably alongside the living room TV (i.e. XBOX, PS3, AppleTV...).. Not to mention that the Telcos have come on strong. DirecTV and Dish don't just compete with each other, they compete with Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, etc.
Satellite TV is also a technology, not a market. If DirecTV and Dish merged, what would they have a monopoly on? Little steel discs on people's roofs? The vast majority of consumers have alternatives.
Another issue is the inefficient use of satellite resources with two redundant full-service DTH operators. There are only so many orbital slots available in the sky over North America, and it is redundant (and expensive) to have two satellites both beaming the same stuff. The satellite industry likes a crowded sky because then they can raise transponder fees and sell new technologies like Ka band and MPEG-4 to squeeze out capacity from existing slots, but this raises costs for the consumer.
In today's competitive landscape, does anyone really believe that a DirecTV/Dish merger would result in higher rates for satellite TV?
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Who really owns these things
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Murdoch
Also Murdoch's company that hacked Dish, received a 1500.00 dollar fine for hacking one card. So the Jury was not convinced of any major wrong doing. Still the NDS story is filled with intrique.
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Say goodbye to competition
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Collusion
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DISH
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