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story category AT&T Plans To Buy Echostar
Hires Goldman Sachs to explore deal
(old news - 12:38PM Tuesday Oct 16 2007)
tags: satellite · Video · competition · business · AT&T DSL Service · Dish Network
We've seen rumors floated for years that AT&T would someday buy satellite operator Echostar. Those rumors have heated up again of late thanks to TheStreet.com, who recently reported AT&T was offering a buyout at $55 a share, though EchoStar wanted $65 a share. Today The Street is reporting that AT&T has hired Goldman Sachs to manage the deal, which could be completed in as little as three to six weeks.
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Echostar's Dish Network is already AT&T's partner on a DSL/DBS hybrid DVR service dubbed Homezone. Homezone is aimed at customers outside the planned deployment range of their U-Verse VDSL IPTV service (of which there will be quite a few).

The Street reports that the push to get the deal done now stems from concerns that currently "pro-deal Republican led regulatory agencies" could be replaced with a Democratic Presidential win next year. As you might expect, AT&T and Echostar aren't commenting on the deal.

Related:
  1. AT&T To Buy Echostar?
  2. WSJ Downplays AT&T, Echostar Deal
  3. Analysts Say TiVo Battle Puts Dish in a Bad Position
  4. Verizon Hides Their Video Troubles
  5. Satellite TV Sees First Quarterly Subscriber Loss Ever
  6. Dish Discussing Merger With DirecTV
  7. Dish First To Be All MPEG-4
  8. AT&T Partners with DirecTV
Forums » AT&T Plans To Buy Echostar
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Post a:
BosstonesOwn

join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs:
·Comcast Formerly ..

Yay ...

Another buy out that will go through faster then the XM/Sirius merger.

We will see it go through before Bush leaves office I bet.
--
"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!"

DaveNJ
No Fear

join:1999-09-01
New Jersey
·Patriot Media
·Cingular Wireless
·Verizon Online DSL

Re: Yay ...

said by BosstonesOwn See Profile :

Another buy out that will go through faster then the XM/Sirius merger.

We will see it go through before Bush leaves office I bet.


I dont see the "pro business", if that were true Xm merger would have happened long ago. The XM is taking the longest then any other in a merger.
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bmn
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Re: Yay ...

said by DaveNJ See Profile :

I dont see the "pro business", if that were true Xm merger would have happened long ago. The XM is taking the longest then any other in a merger.
With good reason... The merger would run afoul of the spectrum licenses that were granted to XM and Sirius. They need to work out how they can work around the fact that the licenses they both have explicitly prevent them from merging and taking the spectrum to one company.

If they can figure it out, it will probably go through.
--
Prove it...
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axus

join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC

Re: Yay ...

Haha pretty smart whoever wrote that provision. Or dumb for forgetting to leave a loophole?
dualsub2006

join:2007-07-18
Newport, KY
·Vonage
·Insight Communicat..
·LINGO
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·RoadRunner Cable

The licenses DO NOT prevent one company from holding both SDARS licenses. It is an FCC rule (rule 25.118 to be exact) that was not a part of the license grant. It was a simple FCC vote to impose the rule, and it would be a simple FCC vote to drop the rule. The license itself does not limit who may hold it.

There is serious discussion about whether or not 25.118 even bars a single holder of both licenses. Of course, the NAB says the wording does ban it. MANY others say that the wording itself does not specifically ban single ownership. In either case, a rule can be superseded by another rule or repealed by vote of the FCC.

Get your facts straight.

N3OGH
It's Biden Vs. the Biscuit. Sarah's hot
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
·Verizon Online DSL

Re: Yay ...

Regardless, their are a lot of satisfied customers of both services that don't want this merger consummated. I happen to be one of them. I like XM the way it is.

Mel and HOO HOO Howie can stay with the little doggie all by themselves as far as I'm concerned...
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dualsub2006

join:2007-07-18
Newport, KY
·Vonage
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·RoadRunner Cable

Re: Yay ...

well, dualsub = subscriber of both XM and Sirius. I don't listen to O&A or Whoie so I could care less about that.

I am happy the way things are. I pay about $50 a month for all of my radios with both and will be happy to do so in the future. Looks like it will be with one company. I fear who would buy both if the merger fails.

N3OGH
It's Biden Vs. the Biscuit. Sarah's hot
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
·Verizon Online DSL

Re: Yay ...

I've got 3 XM subs right now. One in the office, one at home (portable unit) and a Pioneer AVIC D-3 in the truck.

It sill be interesting to see what happens if the merger is off. I too fear who would purchase the 2 independent companies if the merger is blocked.
--
Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power…
BosstonesOwn

join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs:
·Comcast Formerly ..


edit:
October 16th, @03:37PM

Re: Yay ...

If you fear the purchase of the companies then why not tell the truth , your jealousy of what Sirius has done with HOO HOO HOWIE makes you bitter towards the combining of the providers. After all if your provider is bought out you may lose much more then just some channels. You may lose all commercial free radio and may lose uncensored content.

As a sub who has sirius in my F-150 and XM in my Honda (for now) Sirius is a much better provider and I don't want that disappearing any time soon , so I back the merger so that we may have sirius and XM programming on one radio. With the combination of programming you keep most of the XM channels and most of the Sirius channels but move them to a unified system so you get better bang for the buck.

edited for spelling

N3OGH
It's Biden Vs. the Biscuit. Sarah's hot
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
·Verizon Online DSL

Re: Yay ...

LOL.

Actually, I stopped listening to HOO HOO a while before he went to Sat Rad. If I heard Jessica Hann one more time, I was going to revert to my 1987 form

Now why would I, the user of a product be "jealous" of the alternate provider of that service? It makes no sense whatsoever. I don't own stock in either company, and quite frankly I don't care. If nothing changes as far as programming (as we've been promised) then I'll be a happy camper.

But corporate types aren't in the business of keeping promises to customers, they are in the business of making shareholders happy.

Ya gotta earn that suit.

Again, I just get such a chuckle out of being jealous of a media provider. Like I'm jealous of ABC because their "caveman" show does better than whatever is running on NBC, CBS, or Fox.

I do like Sirius' "Sirius shuffle" channel. They play it a lot in a bar I hang out in. I think it's better than XM's "The Mix" channel...

I do like the idea of 2 separate companies competing against each other. Competition drives innovation and keeps companies on their toes...
--
Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power…
BosstonesOwn

join:2002-12-15
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Re: Yay ...

said by N3OGH See Profile :

LOL.

Actually, I stopped listening to HOO HOO a while before he went to Sat Rad. If I heard Jessica Hann one more time, I was going to revert to my 1987 form

Now why would I, the user of a product be "jealous" of the alternate provider of that service? It makes no sense whatsoever. I don't own stock in either company, and quite frankly I don't care. If nothing changes as far as programming (as we've been promised) then I'll be a happy camper.

But corporate types aren't in the business of keeping promises to customers, they are in the business of making shareholders happy.

Ya gotta earn that suit.

Again, I just get such a chuckle out of being jealous of a media provider. Like I'm jealous of ABC because their "caveman" show does better than whatever is running on NBC, CBS, or Fox.

I do like Sirius' "Sirius shuffle" channel. They play it a lot in a bar I hang out in. I think it's better than XM's "The Mix" channel...

I do like the idea of 2 separate companies competing against each other. Competition drives innovation and keeps companies on their toes...
They compete against many media forms now man , cd's , internet radio in cars ! (yea newer cars are coming with 3g based network devices and pcs on board) the ipod , there is so much more then just Sirius and XM competing. They even compete with terrestrial radio as well.
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bmn
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said by dualsub2006 See Profile :

Get your facts straight.
Blame it on the misreporting of several technology sites...
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dualsub2006

join:2007-07-18
Newport, KY

Re: Yay ...

You should march right back to the sites and smack them down. I have when I see it, yet it goes uncorrected. There are a number of places where the facts can be learned free of charge.

Bababooey

@nextweb.net
Hardly...it's because Washington has a bug up their ass about Stern.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

edit:
October 16th, @05:36PM

quote:
I dont see the "pro business", if that were true Xm merger would have happened long ago.
NAB is far more powerful than XM/Sirius.

aztecnology
The Autumn wind is a Raider

join:2003-02-12
Murrieta, CA
I'm behind the deal if employees get free dish programming. Otherwise I could care less...
voipdabbler

join:2006-04-27
Kalispell, MT

Regulatory reviews first.

Even if they could reach a compromise on the offer, this would get some pretty close regulatory review, and not just by the FCC.

ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:

Echos the technician at my house....

A few months ago I had a tech at the house and he mentioned that AT&T were planning to get into the satelite world.

inteller
Sociopaths always win.

join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK

time for DirecTV to get worried.

well, they could have a kabillion HD channels and it wouldn't matter against the Death Star.

time to sell out to XM/Sirius
bmn
? ? ?
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Re: time for DirecTV to get worried.

said by inteller See Profile :

time to sell out to XM/Sirius
No thanks...

After what DirecTV did to Telocity customers a few years back, hell no.
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ossito16

join:2004-07-31
Whiting, IN

When does it stop?

If this is allowed to go thru then I believe the FCC and the dept in charge of anti-trust should be disolved. Might as well let intel, amd, nvidia, & cisco merge too. And to finish it off let Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Google,& Apple merge too.

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

Re: When does it stop?

Micro$oft already owns a chunk of Apple.
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bmn
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edit:
October 16th, @03:09PM

Re: When does it stop?

said by en102 See Profile :

Micro$oft already owns a chunk of Apple.
Owned... Not any longer.

IIRC, Microsoft sold their non-voting shares several years ago...
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itguy05

join:2005-06-17
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said by en102 See Profile :

Micro$oft already owns a chunk of Apple.
They sold that portion years ago. What would be interesting is if Apple started buying up MS stock.... With their market cap, they could get darn close to 51% of MS. Then things could get interesting.
openbox9

join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL
Where exactly is the anti-trust that you are concerned about? There will still be competition...not that anyone ever likes to consider satellite providers in their competition arguments.

Jim Gurd
Premium
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Plymouth, MI
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Re: When does it stop?

said by openbox9 See Profile :

Where exactly is the anti-trust that you are concerned about? There will still be competition...not that anyone ever likes to consider satellite providers in their competition arguments.
Satellite is competitive when it comes to video, but not internet. Internet service has atrocious latency issues due to the satellites being 22,500 miles high in the sky.
--
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openbox9

join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL

Re: When does it stop?

Not disputing the latency. This thread is really questioning the antitrust comment made above. You support my statement regarding competition and that there isn't an antitrust concern with AT&T purchasing a sat TV provider.
ossito16

join:2004-07-31
Whiting, IN
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Re: When does it stop?

said by openbox9 See Profile :

Not disputing the latency. This thread is really questioning the antitrust comment made above. You support my statement regarding competition and that there isn't an antitrust concern with AT&T purchasing a sat TV provider.
I believe the antitrust falls into the realm of bandwidth ownership. They have the copper lines, U-verse fiber, and 700mhz spectrum, now they are going after another medium of communication (maybe even Dobson Communications - largest independent wireless provider). It is the same thing as one company owning a piece of all forms of transportation. Shipping, air, railroads, and trucking. If it owns a good enough piece of the individual transportation networks it is a matter of time before they start to become the monster. Look at Micro$oft, of course they were not the only operating system around, but when they started to provide media players, browsers, word processors, etc. they got tossed into the antitrust pit.
openbox9

join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL
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Re: When does it stop?

said by ossito16 See Profile :

I believe the antitrust falls into the realm of bandwidth ownership. They have the copper lines, U-verse fiber, and 700mhz spectrum,
Did I miss the announcement about the 700 MHz spectrum? Other companies have the things that you mentioned so I'm not seeing that issue.
said by ossito16 See Profile :

Look at Micro$oft, of course they were not the only operating system around, but when they started to provide media players, browsers, word processors, etc. they got tossed into the antitrust pit.
There were other reasons why Microsoft was sued, such as forcing OEMs to play along with certain tactics. The tying of media player, and IE to the OS was a BS part of the allegation IMO. Every other OS that I've touched does similar things. So, back to your original antitrust statement, unless AT&T starts to force OEMs into non-favoring situations or they start to use their market strength in an anticompetitive manner, I don't see the antitrust issues.

lousyidea

@verizon.net

where do they come up with this stuff?

How did this one get past the odor test?

»youtube.com/watch?v=wR-oFK4kRJQ


AT&T needs a merger vasectomy! Quick!
tkdslr

join:2004-04-24
Pompano Beach, FL
·Speakeasy

AT&T's liabilities are to high..

They're in the mist of a civil lawsuit, (illegal wiretaps), that could wipe out all shareholder equity.

They've already lost a number of key rulings. I suspect that this one is going to trial and will have major consequences (bankruptcy, new owners).

I doubt Charlie Ergen will settle for anything less than CASH on the barrel. That leaves AT&T getting it's funds in the debt markets. Unfortunately for AT&T, the new Creditors would have one of the weakest position possible, behind the plaintiffs. (Bad news.)

DHRacer
Fire Survivor

join:2000-10-10
Lake Arrowhead, CA

So now it's a 5-way bundle?

What next? Can't get the best price for sat tv unless you also buy into Wireless, Mobile Internet and all the other crap ATT is shoveling? This is going to be going in a bad direction.
amungus
Premium
join:2004-11-26
America
clubs:
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Re: So now it's a 5-way bundle?

no doubt! ...So now what, a perfectly good tv provider gets worse due to all the merge mania

Yeah, now you can get cheap tv channels, but that's after you bundle the landline (that the box has to be hooked up to... don't those things have built in wi-fi or wired ethernet yet??? why MUST it be ONLY a phone line?). Oh you want a cellphone? Ok, another 'discount.' Internet? Oh yeah, that's another "discount."

might as well just give ma bell a direct link to your bank so they can take whatever they want from your account

Seriously, I hope this doesn't happen. I kind of liked Echostar... kind of the "underdog" appeal I guess.

JokerCPoC

join:2005-11-21
Yermo, CA
·Verizon west (ex G..
·RoadRunner Cable


edit:
October 16th, @02:12PM

I agree, Lets hope the Dish doesn't become the Receiver for the DeathStar, As EchoStar is just fine as It is, If It does and My rates go up I'd start looking to switch to DirectTV instead. And yeah their bundling is not something I like, But I'm in Verizon territory and I like them a lot better.

Slightly off topic: I don't want to review Verizon or Dish or anything like that either and I don't like being asked that either.

hayabusa3303
Over 200 mph
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clubs:

hummm

Hey AT&t.

You starting to think your UVERSE stuff stinks now? Guess so.

MrMoody
Beleaguered Middle Class

join:2002-09-03
Smithfield, NC
·Embarq

Re: hummm

No, it's so they can control TV for the other 90% of their customers who will never be in reach of Uverse. The direction we're going is where you can't get a reasonable price on any communications unless you buy it all from one company.
--
"It is a future in which globalization really does work ... and everybody winds up getting to be part of the third world." - William Gibson

Dagda1175

join:2001-06-17
Goleta, CA

As usual

The government needs to keep out of business dealings completely.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Re: As usual

Yeah, I'd like to see all environmental and consumer protections revoked. It's not like these companies would behave badly.

No tanks

@nextweb.net

I'll probably end up cancelling

What usually happens is whoever does the buying runs the company into the ground. I saw it with the Comcast takeover of ATTB and Covad's takeover of Nextweb.

Oh well. I can always hold out hope that AT&T won't F* up E*.
kwayzcat

join:2002-10-22
Chicago, IL

I'll cancel Dish

I love Dish but I'll cancel the day after if the merger goes through. Hello DirecTV or Comcast.

NowVOIP
In the beginning there was POTS

join:2006-03-05
Round Lake, IL

Re: I'll cancel Dish

You and me both, my friend. You and me both.
--
The revolution will be televised!

i5050MbSoon
Formerly TwoKDialup
Premium
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Coloma, MI

Notice:

We don't cherry pick but for those of you on the wrong side of our redline, here's your dish booby prize!
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Transmaster
Onward Through The Fog

join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

One Word......

SH*T

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
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Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest

Re: One Word......

said by Transmaster See Profile :

SH*T
Indeed. If Echostar goes down, then there's nothing to stop the prices for Television service from heading up, up, and away!

... Well except maybe for piracy.

drx792

@bellsouth.net

........i wonder

what does this mean for the people in old Bellsouth territory that have the Bellsouth D* discount. Will we loose that eventually since At&t will have E*?

punker
deleted by moderator
Premium
join:2004-06-21
Palmdale, CA
clubs:

edit:
October 16th, @08:33PM

dish network

they suck

them VS cable

Cable Wins hands down

in Picture Quilty & sound

sat sucks

dish's over conpresses the Picture
--
( . Y . )
mikedz4

join:2003-04-14
Weirton, WV
·Comcast Digital Vo..

maybe directv/dish should merge?!!

since xm/sirius is merging why doesn't directv/dish try to merge again. It's alot better then the xm/sirius merger and alot better then att/dish merger as far as i can tell. With comcast buying up every cable company the combined satellite company can claim they are competing with verizon,att,comcast and time warner.

Plus they can claim they will use the combined satellites to bring internet to rural areas by 2020 or something like that. That was what shot the last attempt down, was the rural people got congress to say no because they felt it would snuff out competition in their areas. Throw them a bone and they'll be in, I'm pretty sure. Then you'll have the votes to get the merger allowed before Bush ( the pro merger president) leaves office in 2009.

badfiber

@mindspring.com

sigh - again?

This merger would make sense since AT&T relies on Echostar to complete its "triple play" for most consumers. AT&T only pulls fiber to wealthy new residential communities, the rest get old DSL, IP telephony, a dish and an exploding telcom dslam box on the curb. But this takes us back, all the way to 2000, when AT&T was the largest cable operator in the country having bought out TCI and Media One only to sell it all to Comcast in 2001 while taking a 53 billion dollar loss. And one wonders why Wall Street hasn't trashed this monster yet - oh nevermind . . .
Forums » AT&T Plans To Buy Echostar


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