[amillians]

Rupert walks away...

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/2001...ghes_dc_3.html

 

[DevoX]

This can only be good for us Dish Net'ers.


-- Robert

 

[mmburke]

That's a shock!

Will Hughes decide not to sell?

Will US Govt let Dish monopolize satellite TV?

Satellite should really be viewed as cable competitor, therefore no antitrust.

Huge potential to improve satellite. No need to have dual transmission of every channel(1-DTV,1-Dish) means more bandwidth for HD, local channels.

Downside buy in to DVI, need to buy new boxes, dishes, other costs to consumer.

 

[Hot]

If Echostar does get DirectTV, I wonder how long it will be before we get HDNet on DISH Network?

 

[Steve Mehs]

This is going to be interesting to see how Charlie (assuming he gets it) to see what hes going to do and how the 2 companies will evolve into 1.


Steve

 

[royrose]

This could be a ploy by Fox to rally opposition to Dish. It seems strange for Fox to drop out just before a decision unless they felt that Dish was gaining the upper hand. Anyway, I wouldn't count on dish getting it yet.


Roy

 

[Will7]

A sad day for every minidish subscriber if E* wins DTV.

1. Subription price will increase in order to recoup the purchase cost.

2. HD content will stagnate due to the non-existence of a satellite competitor.

3. PQ could degrade.

 

[RobertR]

Quote:

HD content will stagnate

What do you think Rupert Murdoch would have done to HD content if he bought DTV?

 

[DevoX]

Quote:

Originally posted by Will7 A sad day for every minidish subscriber if E* wins DTV. 1. Subription price will increase in order to recoup the purchase cost. 2. HD content will stagnate due to the non-existence of a satellite competitor. 3. PQ could degrade.

I really can't agree here. I doubt subscription prices will be affected. If they are affected, it would probably be for DirecTV customers in a move to encourage them to switch to DishNetwork. But it is true that most of the rabid efforts to get new customers or to get subscribers to switch will probably cool off a bit. I am sure that Echostar will provide an easy, inexpensive way for DirecTV users to switch to Dish when the time comes (this wont happen overnight and probably not for many months).


I really doubt that this would bring us less HD content. Charlie seems to be very current on technology and supportive of HD, in contrast to NewsCorp who feels that HD is a thorn in their side.


As for picture quality... how could buying DirecTV possibly equate to lower picture quality? DirecTV is not a virus that will "infect" Echostar.


-- Robert

 

[Hershey]

I am not to sure that everyone from Directv would be changing to Dish hardware. Right now there are more people at Directv. Plus I think their HD stuff and TIVO combos are far ahead of Dish. I few million less to change to Directv model would be more cost effective. Plus Directv has already launched the spot beam sat that will help with local programming. I think that alone would make Dish want to follow the path of least resistance. Go with what is already working and in the position to do the job.



Just my feelings.


Jeff Heiss

 

[Jerry G]

Quote:

Originally posted by Will7 A sad day for every minidish subscriber if E* wins DTV. 1. Subription price will increase in order to recoup the purchase cost. 2. HD content will stagnate due to the non-existence of a satellite competitor. 3. PQ could degrade.

Are you kidding? The really sad day would be if Rupert takes control. More than anyone in the industry, he typifies the $ as being the bottom line. He is completely anti HDTV. With him, HD on DirecTV may become non existent and PQ would be the last thing he would be interested in.

 

[Corey140]

Quote:

Originally posted by Hershey Plus Directv has already launched the spot beam sat that will help with local programming. I Jeff Heiss

No thats is 1 month away........

 

[Ken Ross]

My interpretation of that article is that GM decided to go with NEITHER Rupert OR Charlie. It's back to ground zero.

 

[Ken H]

GM is notorious for this kind of indecision. There are still four possibilities, listed in order of my estimation:


1) No one buys Hughes.

2) Echostar buys Hughes

3) News Corp buys Hughes

4) Someone else buys Hughes

 

[Don Landis]

Well, Ken, that about covers it! However, to clarify your predictions, I would say that either something or nothing will happen sometime between now and the future.

 

[Alan Sh]

An L.A. Times story contains a few more details about negotiating tactics and the status of the loan Echostar needs.


"They concede, however, that the company[News Corp] would buy Hughes if the auto maker accepted its offer."


"Sources said that Deutsche Bank has committed to half the loan, but that a second bank, UBS Warburg, was wavering."

 

[Steve Mehs]

Quote:

Originally posted by Will7 A sad day for every minidish subscriber if E* wins DTV. 1. Subription price will increase in order to recoup the purchase cost. 2. HD content will stagnate due to the non-existence of a satellite competitor. 3. PQ could degrade.

I have a few objections


1. They still have cable to compete with so prices couldnt go up that much.


2. More bandwidth to offer the most HD content


3. Both DBS providers have a combined 12 birds up, with more to come (spot beams) Right know a combined DishDirect could offer well over 1000 channels and have better PQ then you see right know. 12birdsX32transpondersX5channels per TP. Theres the answer to must carry and excellent PQ. (granted, Dish Net or DiecrTV doesnot own all of the TPs some are RL/DBS and SA, but you see my point.)


Steve

 

[Glenn_L]

I don't think bandwidth will increase much unless:


1. find a way for both D and E receivers to receive the same signals.

2. replace the 6M E receivers with D receivers

3. replace the 10M D receivers with E receivers


I can't see 2 or 3 happening anytime soon. Don't know the technicals or 1.


Price won't change except to go down and draw more business from the cable companies.


I think the deal would only reduce the overhead for E. It should not be a big deal to combine programming, so E customers should get HDNET and D customers should get CBS and showtime.


I think the two companies will still operate separately for many years. When AOL bought CompuServe, they did not combine everyone into one service.

 

[Dreimiller]

Here are a couple more articles:

News Corp. pulls offer for DirecTV - Kris Hudson/Denver Post

News Corp. withdraws offer to buy GM subsidiary Hughes Electronics - Ed Garsten/AP

 

[Steve Wright]

My worst case scenario is that Charlie gets Directv and pulls all the HD stuff off 119 and moves it to 61. No more HD for me since I switched because I could not get a signal from 61!