Bloomberg Rekindles Decade Old Dish/DirecTV Merger Rumor Wednesday Mar 26 2014 15:44 EDT Dish's Charlie Ergen has spent years telling absolutely anybody who'll listen that he thinks a merger between Dish and DirecTV is a good idea. He's been the quiet voice behind press merger rumors since the first attempted merger between the companies was blocked by regulators back in 2002 out of legitimate worry that it would erode pay TV sector competition. With it likely that Comcast's $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable will be approved, Ergen has been making the rounds claiming that Dish should be able to merge with DirecTV. That logic doesn't really make any coherent sense, given Time Warner Cable and Comcast don't directly compete (problems with that particular deal are focused more on vertical integration and leverage issues, which are harder to argue before antitrust reviewers). Feeling incorrectly emboldened by the Comcast deal, Bloomberg News quotes an anonymous source that states Ergen approached DirecTV CEO Mike White about a new merger attempt last month: quote: Ergen made the approach in response to Comcast Corp.’s $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc. in mid-February, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. White is reluctant to push forward with formal talks out of concern regulators may block the deal because the two companies directly compete with each other, another person said. Although White is hesitant to pursue a deal, he hasn’t ruled it out entirely, one person said. The talks are being conducted at a senior level with no official process yet under way, several people said...Although White is hesitant to pursue a deal, he hasn’t ruled it out entirely, one person said. The talks are being conducted at a senior level with no official process yet under way, several people said.
So basically, Ergen is excited about a deal but DirecTV doesn't think regulators will approve it, which has effectively been the same story we've been told for a decade now. Why is Bloomberg keen to treat this as news? Keep in mind Bloomberg reporters get potentially larger bonuses if their stories " move markets," regardless of whether the information being pushed is accurate, new or interesting. It remains just as unlikely as ever that regulators would approve a deal that reduces the number of direct pay TV competitors in the TV sector, no matter how much Ergen wants it to be so. |
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.NO good - for the consumer - EVER comes out of (competing companies like this) merging!!! | |
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robbyglack
Anon
2014-Mar-26 4:43 pm
worse than cable mergerunlike cable companies dish and directtv compete head on for the same customers.
not good. | |
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Re: worse than cable mergerIt didn't stop Sirius from buying XM. Regulators weren't even opposed to it. | |
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Re: worse than cable mergersaid by devolved:It didn't stop Sirius from buying XM. Regulators weren't even opposed to it. True, but as I recall the argument made there was that neither were profitable. Essentially, "let us merge or we both die." Can't say the same for Dish and DirecTV. | |
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to devolved
there is also more options with ota radio and now streaming vs tv as well. | |
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Mr Guy to devolved
Anon
2014-Mar-26 6:20 pm
to devolved
said by devolved:It didn't stop Sirius from buying XM. Regulators weren't even opposed to it. If they opposed the merger neither would exist now and the satellite radio industry would be dead. Would that be better? there are TONS of options for radio. | |
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to robbyglack
Hell, our regulators allowed Verizon to make best friends out of direct Cable co. competitors with the wireless spectrum deal. So for this one, I lay all my chips over the word "approve" SMH We live in an upside down, inside out, world. | |
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IowaCowboyLost in the Supermarket Premium Member join:2010-10-16 Springfield, MA |
Will likely be blockedIt was already blocked in 2002 and the political climate back then was much more business friendly then it is today. Had we had that political climate during AT&T's attempt to buy T-Mobile, the deal would have been allowed to proceed.
The only reason SiriusXM was allowed to merge is their market was limited and neither one was making that much money so merging was the only way to keep them in business. That contract with Howard Stern probably wiped out their cash as well. I think one of them even filed for chapter 11.
But back to DirecTV/Dish. Both are very healthy companies and can afford to give into greedy programming providers without too much of an increase in bills. Yes they take a hit in profit but having high profits at the expense of angry customers.
It's unlikely that a merger would be approved due to the fact the companies do directly compete and there is no third competitor to keep them in check other than cable and that is limited to urban areas. And satellite is superior to cable in many ways.
I've thought of going over to Dish due to differences in programming offerings but I'm not sure on price. | |
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These stories are worthless...."Bloomberg News quotes an anonymous source that states Ergen approached DirecTV CEO Mike White about a new merger attempt last month"
So what they are really saying is that a reported needed to meet this month's story quota so we're going to write a story based on rumors and quote the "Anonymous" source that no one can verify.
So if it ever happens the writer gets to pat too his horn but if never happens oh well, the "Anonymous" source was wrong but we'll never know who that was. | |
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Re: These stories are worthless....And then with that you have other "reporters" and sites that will keep the rumor mill going, only to drive up there traffic. | |
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Re: These stories are worthless....Or they beat the same sort to death month after month. | |
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this would suckIf this merger were to ever happen, i would be left with only one company to get pay tv from. As i do not have any cable providers where i live and the internet options i have are no good for streaming
I would hope this merger would get blocked again if it were to ever materialize. | |
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Great plan!I think it would be the best thing to happen, you look at all the different types of install factors and setups that you have to go to when or if you switch from one to another. They are basically the same thing and already rent space from the same satellites on many uses. For those that do the installs for them it would be a blessing and as for the consumer a more powerful force to scale down the higher fee's to rebroadcast. | |
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