News & Analysis
Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen yesterday reiterated his belief that a merger between his company and DIRECTV is ‘inevitable.’ But a new comment from Ergen during a conference call with financial analysts certainly raised some eyebrows.
“Yeah, I mean, I still think DISH and DIRECTV will be inevitable. Could that be a month from now or 10 years from now? That I don’t know,” Ergen said.
There has been speculation for months that Dish and the AT&T-owned DIRECTV could merge. (Ergen himself first said last February that he thought it was ‘inevitable.)
AT&T has dismissed the rumors, but DIRECTV has lost between five and six million subscribers since AT&T purchased it for $49 billion in 2015, and the defections are increasing each financial quarter. The telco has also acknowledged it believes the satellite TV industry does not have a strong future while video streaming does.
The continued DIRECTV subscriber losses, and AT&T’s heavy investment in streaming offerings such as HBO Max and AT&T TV, have some analysts agreeing with Ergen that a merger is indeed evitable.
But could a Dish-DIRECTV deal really get done in the next month?
Ergen’s ‘next month’ comment could have been a throw-away remark, not really meant to suggest a deal could be that close. There hasn’t even been a single credible news report that the companies are talking.
But Ergen rarely says something so pointed in public without a reason. By saying a merger could happen in the next month, or the next 10 years, could be his way of publicly goading AT&T to come to the table. (Or if they are already at the table, sign the dotted line.)
It’s also interesting that Ergen brought up the prospect of a Dish-DIRECTV merger in the analyst call; it wasn’t a response to a question. (Ergen and other Dish executives held the analyst call yesterday following Dish’s release of its second quarter report.)
“Obviously, we haven’t gotten the question, but obviously I’ve said in the past, I thought I would be inevitable that DISH and DIRECTV probably at some point would to be allowed to merge,” Ergen said during the discussion.
It would seem that Ergen wanted to discuss the merger in a public forum, again perhaps to send a signal to AT&T to get serious.
The TV Answer Man will continue to monitor this situation, and report back here if we get more information. Until then, you can read our article, ‘Why Would Dish Merge With DIRECTV?’
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
Cable TV, and satellite TV probably, won’t be with us in a few years. Even over the air television will be affected Streaming technology will dominate.
I just shut down my dish. Bought a firestick for older tv and 1 new firestick tv. 150 hour HD DVR and I feel free and save125.00 per month after 4 months to recover cost of new gear. UNPLUG….
I love my Direct tv
I’ve been with DirecTV since 1995 when they bought PrimeStar. I love ❤ my DirecTV. I’ve been getting goodies from them every year. Never had a problem with them.
I’m a AT&T customer 4 months ago i was told during the pandemic I dont have to pay for 2 months when the 2 months was over i had a 1100.00 bill and service shut off. I paid the bill with my stimulus check all but 50.00 leaving a balance making arrangements. Tell me why they shut off my service for 50.00 after paying 1100.00. Then i borrowed the 50 and service was restored. Guess what I got another bill the following month for 568.00. After totally going off on them and shutting service OFF. They told me to disregard that 568.00 was an error. The bill is 212.00. Made arrangements AGAIN to pay after fixing the error so i thought. Got another bill for the same 568.00. So dam tired of them.
I had DirecTV when it was a stand alone company and the service/programming was just okay.
After the company was bought by AT&T, the service went in the toilet, programming was a joke and the price skyrocketed
As a customer that left DirecTV in favor of Dish network, the idea of another merger is infuriating!
If AT&T doesn’t want DirecTV…just let it go! Dish network shouldn’t get involved with DirecTV
You are right, the Customer Service is Use-less
What do you want in Programming ?
I dropped DTV in favor of Dish due to the terrible foreign customer service of DTV. I couldn’t be happier.
Hated DTV and AT&T if this happens I’m done
Had DirecTV and support was terrible. Going to AT&T was the worst decision they did. Now with Dish
I have had Direct TV for many years. It was great before at&t bought it. They have no customer relations. I have hooked up my over the air antenna and am getting rid of my direct TV this coming up month. They have ruined what was a good service. At&t has strayed so far from its roots that they will find themselves falling in the future. When you dont take care of and take advantage of your customers your customers will ultimately run and drop your service.
Mabye then we will get our ABC channels back on our TV this has been way to long for us missing our local channels money we pay for those channels but have no access to
Stop playing games and being them back ….
We got ABC back last year
Except for sports, I rarely watch network TV, so an antenna does me no good. Pricing the alternative options, streaming ala carte, finding what I want in this that and the other streaming services, I find im going to pay more for less plus streaming is still nowhere near as dependable as satellite or cable.If I could have the best of Direct..(all the channels with much less loss of… combined with the service and pricing of Dish… WIN!, However i’m afraid what I’ll get is thw worst of both…. NO MERGER PLEASE
One reason folks bailed on DirecTV is probably they were lied to about what they were promised at signing up. It happened to me. They lied about some bonus they were throwing in and when I called to discuss it they wouldn’t do anything about it. I was told repeatedly that the rep didn’t have authority to offer those perks to me. The end. I’m stuck for a while longer but I wouldn’t recommend anyone sign up with them.
I left DirecTV for Dish because of AT&T. I had DirecTV for 13 years and loved it until AT&T took over. I knew it would go to crap and prices would go up and it did. I dropped DirecTV like a bad habit. You call customer service and end up talking to someone on the other side of the world you can’t understand. It is obvious that AT&T is a liberal owned company because they destroy everything they get their hands on
Exactly right and to the point
I am so disgusted with DirecTV that I canceled and I will never recommend them to anyone I believe they should shut down and everyone should just continue with Wi-Fi and just order Roku or Roku televisions maybe even Hulu or sling. They don’t never keep their word and they try to get all your money even with the covid-19 on so long DirecTV.
Direct tv sucks.
I love all the people who say ‘switch to streaming’ or ‘they should just shut down satillite TV service’…
Well what are people without internet, or people with limited internet supposed to do?
DirecTV saves me thousands of dollers per year on my internet connection. Because streaming would cost me several hundreds of dollars a month in internet fees.
A DISH customer for 15 years, I have appreciated the English-speaking customer service and gratitude to faithful customers in the form of loyalty discounts. However, things drastically changed in the past year. Dish tripled my rate and ceased offering any discounts. Covid excuses aside, paying $80-100 for an insanely-named “Top 120” plus $12 for locals can no longer be justified. The reality is there are over 70 channels that are nothing but 24/7 infomercials. The promoted “packages” are mostly shopping channels in Duplicate and Triplicate. Please go through each one of your “channels” and write down or make spreadsheet of the call letters and see what is actually “on” – if you need reinforcement to cut the cord. It helps to realize just how bogus these packages are. Not to mention the dozens of channels that are supposed to show Animals, Food, Music, Nature, and Sports – yet offer nothing of the sort. All Ads or the same crappy show in reruns around the clock. I love the newfound freedom of watching Ad-free movies and quality programs for $4 per month via streaming service. The fear is once everybody jumps on board, the streaming services will become arrogant and greedy like cable…but it is great to finally have real choices while it lasts.
We live in rural SE Kansas w/terrible internet service so streaming isn’t an option. We had Dish for 6 years and I literally just switched to Direct TV. I switched because ATT gave me more data on my mobile account and DTV has HBO (again streaming doesn’t work for our area unless you want to pay hundreds for internet.
Direct TV es buena compañía lo único que necesita es saber atraer al cliente con mejor programación en internet .
Please don’t merge Directv with Dish. Dish is fair with their customers. Directv is not . They over charge you. If you are forced to move to another location, They charge you extra more to move the service. I love my Dish
I started with Dish 8n 2002 and left after 6 months because the customer service was atrocious. Went to DirecTV and kept them for 18 years. They made me feel as though my business was very important to them. The instant AT&T took over the company be became a stranger to me. Impersonal, insensitive and co.ported a poorly trained staff. Now I am back with Dish.
I left DirecTV after being with them for decades, I was one of the early adopters. But they got too expensive and it was announced that they would no longer support standard definition receivers that motorhomes and boats could receive while in motion. They also wanted a separate account instead of dish which offered the service for just the additional $7 a month for another receiver. And I like the hopper a lot better than Directv Dvr. I don’t know how compatible their systems actually are though whether their satellites transmit on the same frequencies whether they would actually get anything of value other than their subscriber base if they bought DirecTV.
Direct TV is the worst service ever!!! As soon as my contract is up in July 2021 I will never renew. They don’t care about older customers!!!!!!!
Direct TV is the worst company ever. I will be glad when my contract with them ends so I can go somewhere else!!!
Went from Dish to AT&T Direct TV😞😡price keeps going up and keep loosing channels 😡 most of the package consists of shop at home, infomercial, or need a 4K tv or internet to get certain channels 😡 Internet not an option😞Any suggestions
To answer your questions and offer suggestions:
1. How long have you had DirecTV ?
2. What channels do you keep loosing with DirecTV?
3. What Package do you have ? (Price) ?
4. ALL the packages have home shopping & Info channels.
I think this is the Same with ALL Cable and Satellite Providers.
As far as I know they are Not a charge to us.
You can Program them OUT in the “favorite Channel section”.
5. What certain channels do you Need a 4K TV or internet to get ?
6. What do you use for internet ? Where do you live ?
Don’t like Direct TV. Would love to have a weekly guide of programs. Hate that I can’t get weather when there is bad weather.