DirecTV, Echostar (Dish Network) to merge?

In alt.dbs.directv Bob wrote:

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" wrote in message
...
In alt.dbs.echostar Jude Cormier wrote:
In other words, the new AT&T is rapidly emerging as the old AT&T (the
very
company the government had to break up as a monopoly). I heard BellSouth
is
next in line to be merged.


Rapidly? No, I don't think so. For one, they are still quite regional in
nature [Verizon and QWest alone account for a significant portion of what
used
to be AT&T in the early 80's]. And second, AT&T has been posturing to
divest
or sell its long distance business and to get out of it altogether.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1


Rapidly is a fair assessment. SBC just acquired AT&T and changed the name of
the whole thing to AT&T.

SBC was already pretty big.

That's a pretty substantial "regional" operation.


That amounts to 22% of the consumer telecom spending and 34% of the business
telecom spending; according to this article:

http://www.tnstelecoms.com/press-3-13-06.html

Yes, it is big. A monopoly? No. Rapidly becoming one? No, not without
further aquisitions.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" wrote in message
...
In alt.dbs.echostar Jude Cormier wrote:
In other words, the new AT&T is rapidly emerging as the old AT&T (the
very
company the government had to break up as a monopoly). I heard BellSouth
is
next in line to be merged.


Rapidly? No, I don't think so. For one, they are still quite regional in
nature [Verizon and QWest alone account for a significant portion of what
used
to be AT&T in the early 80's]. And second, AT&T has been posturing to
divest
or sell its long distance business and to get out of it altogether.


okay, maybe rapidly wasn't that right word.

In article ,
John McWilliams wrote:

I've been Googling a bit, and looking for help to try to decide between
DirectTV (which I have) or DishNet, and just haven't found it.

Are you looking for a direct comparison channel chart? Someone used to
have one, but I haven't seen it mentioned lately.

There's a lot of good Dish info on the Echostar Knowledge Base site:

http://ekb.dbstalk.com/

Now I run
across this thread in rec.arts.tv, and see it's crossposted to several
groups with dbs in the name- I take it that means direct broadcast
service? ie., not the small dishes?

DBS *is* the small dish services. Individuals who use big dishes are
receiving transmissions whose primary targets are local stations and
cable companies. (I realize that there are C-band programming packages
for individuals, but the whole reason C-band systems were built was to
send programming to affiliates and cable companies.) By contrast, DirecTV
and Dish were established to provide TV programming directly to consumers,
hence "direct broadcast services."

If you have specific questions about DirecTV or Dish, the newsgroups
listed in the headers of this message (apart from rec.arts.tv) are good
places to ask.


Patty

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" wrote in message
...
In alt.dbs.directv Bob wrote:

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" wrote in message
...
In alt.dbs.echostar Jude Cormier wrote:
In other words, the new AT&T is rapidly emerging as the old AT&T (the
very
company the government had to break up as a monopoly). I heard
BellSouth
is
next in line to be merged.


Rapidly? No, I don't think so. For one, they are still quite regional
in
nature [Verizon and QWest alone account for a significant portion of
what
used
to be AT&T in the early 80's]. And second, AT&T has been posturing to
divest
or sell its long distance business and to get out of it altogether.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1


Rapidly is a fair assessment. SBC just acquired AT&T and changed the name
of
the whole thing to AT&T.

SBC was already pretty big.

That's a pretty substantial "regional" operation.


That amounts to 22% of the consumer telecom spending and 34% of the
business
telecom spending; according to this article:

http://www.tnstelecoms.com/press-3-13-06.html

Yes, it is big. A monopoly? No. Rapidly becoming one? No, not without
further aquisitions.


And when it acquires BellSouth, what will be then? (I'm asking seriously,
not being sarcastic)

That amounts to 22% of the consumer telecom spending and 34% of the
business
telecom spending; according to this article:

http://www.tnstelecoms.com/press-3-13-06.html

Yes, it is big. A monopoly? No. Rapidly becoming one? No, not without
further aquisitions.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1


The new AT&T company is the largest telecommunications company in the
country and one of the largest in the world.

Doesn't have to be a monopoly to be dominant. Which I think was the point.

On 7/21/06 10:57 AM, wrote:
In article ,
John McWilliams wrote:
I've been Googling a bit, and looking for help to try to decide between
DirectTV (which I have) or DishNet, and just haven't found it.

Are you looking for a direct comparison channel chart? Someone used to
have one, but I haven't seen it mentioned lately.

That, or better still, someone saying, "yeah, I liked the deal from x or
y because.... and I got a HD PVR, but it wasn't mp4 compatible, but that
won't be a problem for me because....." And someone say, yeah, but.... etc.

There's a lot of good Dish info on the Echostar Knowledge Base site:

http://ekb.dbstalk.com/
Thanks.

Now I run
across this thread in rec.arts.tv, and see it's crossposted to several
groups with dbs in the name- I take it that means direct broadcast
service? ie., not the small dishes?

DBS *is* the small dish services. Individuals who use big dishes are
receiving transmissions whose primary targets are local stations and
cable companies. (I realize that there are C-band programming packages
for individuals, but the whole reason C-band systems were built was to
send programming to affiliates and cable companies.) By contrast, DirecTV
and Dish were established to provide TV programming directly to consumers,
hence "direct broadcast services."

If you have specific questions about DirecTV or Dish, the newsgroups
listed in the headers of this message (apart from rec.arts.tv) are good
places to ask.

Thanks, Patty; I realized after I posted I probably blew the designation
of dbs, although to me a big dish is more direct than one going through
an entire separate system such as DirecTV or DishNet.....in any event, I
have identified myself as ....uh, uninformed....

--
John McWilliams

In alt.dbs.echostar Jude Cormier wrote:

Yes, it is big. A monopoly? No. Rapidly becoming one? No, not without
further aquisitions.


And when it acquires BellSouth, what will be then? (I'm asking seriously,
not being sarcastic)


The aquisition needs to be approved. If there is a risk of a new monopoly
forming, then I doubt it will be approved. Personally, I wish Verizon would
buy QWest, to put some life back into the old dusty relic. There are big
players in the industry, and most of them are descended from the AT&T of old
[pre-breakup]. Thus, I do not fear [yet] that they are growing towards a
monopoly.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

In alt.dbs.echostar Bob wrote:


That amounts to 22% of the consumer telecom spending and 34% of the
business
telecom spending; according to this article:

http://www.tnstelecoms.com/press-3-13-06.html

Yes, it is big. A monopoly? No. Rapidly becoming one? No, not without
further aquisitions.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1


The new AT&T company is the largest telecommunications company in the
country and one of the largest in the world.


That isn't in doubt.

Doesn't have to be a monopoly to be dominant. Which I think was the point.


Actually, he indicated that it was growing toward being the AT&T of old and
followed by a mention of its monopoly and previous breakup. Is there
something wrong with my questioning of that statement? I don't believe there
is a risk of monopoly at this time as there are still many competitors and
quite a bit of room for consolidation.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
In alt.dbs.echostar Jude Cormier wrote:

In other words, the new AT&T is rapidly emerging as the old AT&T (the very
company the government had to break up as a monopoly). I heard BellSouth is
next in line to be merged.



Rapidly? No, I don't think so. For one, they are still quite regional in
nature [Verizon and QWest alone account for a significant portion of what used
to be AT&T in the early 80's]. And second, AT&T has been posturing to divest
or sell its long distance business and to get out of it altogether.

Thomas,

The reason ATT is looking to dump their FORMER Cash Cow "Long Distance"
is because of the advent of Free or Bundled Long Distance with Cell
Phones and VOIP service. Long Distance is no longer the cash cow it once
was. In time, Long Distance will be NO MORE, better to unload it now
before that division becomes virtually valueless.

John

In article ,
John McWilliams wrote:
On 7/21/06 10:57 AM, wrote:

Are you looking for a direct comparison channel chart? Someone used to
have one, but I haven't seen it mentioned lately.

That, or better still, someone saying, "yeah, I liked the deal from x or
y because.... and I got a HD PVR, but it wasn't mp4 compatible, but that
won't be a problem for me because....." And someone say, yeah, but.... etc.

Either the above-listed Usenet groups or the forums on DBStalk.com
should do for that.

DBS *is* the small dish services.

Thanks, Patty; I realized after I posted I probably blew the designation
of dbs, although to me a big dish is more direct than one going through
an entire separate system such as DirecTV or DishNet.....

Well, you have a good point there! But the term was created to mean
"we're programming directly to consumers" rather than "this is the
most direct route from the source to the viewer." C'est la vie!


Patty