Q. I read your story about AT&T trying to sell DIRECTV, but I can’t understand why Dish isn’t bidding for it. It seems to me that Dish has been interested in merging with DIRECTV before and so they would now, too. What’s your analysis on what will happen here? Will AT&T sell it to another TV company like Comcast? — Wayne, Fairfax, Virginia.
Wayne, the New York Post reported this week that AT&T is taking bids for DIRECTV, its struggling satellite TV service. That’s not surprising considering that DIRECTV has lost roughly six million subscribers since AT&T purchased it in 2015, and that AT&T wants to focus exclusively on streaming-based products such as HBO Max and AT&T TV. But what is surprising is that the Post writes that Dish did not make an offer in the first round of bids.
“Rival satellite-TV provider Dish Network — whose billionaire boss Charlie Ergen once said a merger of Dish and DirecTV is “inevitable” — isn’t participating in the auction, according to sources. That’s after a failed bid last year by Stephenson to merge the two that ran into antitrust concerns,” the newspaper wrote.
Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen has wanted to merge with DIRECTV, or buy it outright, for decades. In fact, the two satcasters agreed to merge about two decades ago, but the deal was nixed by federal regulators in 2002 on grounds that it would reduce consumer choice.
So why isn’t Dish interested in buying DIRECTV now when its price would be devalued, and the feds would be more receptive due to the current explosion of consumer video choices thanks to streaming?
I think Dish is interested, but Ergen (and likely AT&T) has concluded that negotiating a deal directly with AT&T would be troublesome. One, the feds could still reject a straight DIRECTV-Dish deal; there are millions of rural residents without Internet access (so no streaming) who would be hurt if they only had one satellite choice.
And two, Ergen and AT&T’s executive team are likely to be unsuitable negotiation partners. The Dish Chairman is arguably the industry’s toughest (and prickliest) negotiator, one who’s known to blow up a deal over a seemingly minor slight. AT&T probably does not even want to entertain the notion of dancing with Charlie when time is not on its side.
The likely scenario here is that an equity firm, such as Apollo Global Management, will buy DIRECTV with the intention of flipping it to another company with Dish being the likely flipee, if you will. Apollo is a finance company; it has no experience running a national pay TV service. When it has purchased a TV-related company in the past, it turns over the management responsibilities to a company that does have the experience. (For instance, Apollo last year purchased a few dozen local TV stations owned by Cox Media, but is allowing Cox Media to serve as the management team.)
Apollo could sell DIRECTV to Dish, or give it an investment stake that would enable Ergen’s team to run both companies. While it’s possible that they could keep both satellite TV services intact, and therefore avoid federal regulatory scrutiny, I suspect that would not appeal to Ergen. He knows that eliminating a major satellite rival would give him more leverage with programmers during carriage disputes as well as allow Dish to streamline operations.
Bottom line: Don’t count Dish out. Ergen, a former professional blackjack player, knows he still has a card to play.
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
KNOCK KNOCK…
Earth to douchebags …come in douche bages !! WFT !!!!!!!!!
THIS is SO EASY …”Charlie” does NOT have to BUY ANYTHING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALL he has to do is WAIT OUT the inevitable…then his company can ADD the FLEEING Directv subscribes and N-O-T have to deal with
ANY govt. BULL SHEET !!
NON…ZIP…and the ASSCLOWNS at AT&T full well know that too.
Charlie was flying the FU finger at the MORON Stanker sore and Suprerson and there is NOTHING they could do about it.
ALL DISH has to do is WAIT…and “flipping the Directv pile of GARBAGE wining pile of pos cry baby “customers” will be JOKE at best.
CHARLIE will N-O-T BUY Direcv from ANYONE at ANY PRICE because, IDIOTS of AMERICA…HE DOESN’T HAVE TO !! MORONS !!!!!!!!!!!
I dont know wth I got myself into but just signed up with At&t direct tv.And the month just got over with very disappointed nothing on to watch after 3 month free trial is over.and been hearing allot of negative things about this company.
And if there selling out dont I have a right to back out of our contract
You do know the Reason many left direct TV was AT n T constantly RAISED prices. I know I’ve been with them many years. Go back to way it was you’ll make profit…
I get SO tired of having to negotiate a new price for my service about every 6 months….just give me a number l can live with!!!
OVER $2400.00 A YEAR FOR TV.?????? WHAT HAPPENED HERE. WHAT HAPPENEN TO BUYING A TV AND NOT BUYING CRAP TV PERIOD. BYE BYE DIRECT TV. GO PLEASE.
Just told no more discounts for loyalty, there had been a loyalty discount for older retired folk like my wife and i, we have had DTV since late 90’s…. now… sorry bub…
I am a Direct TV customer and it’s no wonder they have lost so many customers! I signed up for 2 yr agreement at $19.99 a month. The second year the price starting going up and was at $80 some dollars a month. Now, I turn on my tv, yesterday, and I have several channels gone!! All the darn Spanish channels are still there, and i’m American!! I’m not happy at all with them!!!
Att lower your prices period and customers will come back
You can give everything the choice package has to offer for the entry level package cost give customers a sports free option to reduce there bill
And get rid of the rsn fee nobody watching sports nowadays
I’ve been with Direct TV since it started. I’m very disappointed in them. They are going up in price so much, but never change their programining. People like myself, on a fixed income, this may be their only entertainment. What a ripoff to the public! As soon as I am able financially, I’m dumping Direct TV! Who’s with me on that?
I would never have dropped DirecTV if the cost for an average Joe, such as me, hadn’t risen so high even for the basic package. AT&T lied when the told the FCC that the consumer cost for DirectTV would decrease and the choice of TV packages would improve.
That’s why their service so crappy
All they want is your money
I was told that if i switched to direct TV my bill would be 25 dollars cheaper. Its only 13 dollars
I was also told that they would take care of my cancellation fee they didn’t so i was stuck paying 390.00 to Dish. I never have Direct tv again when my agreement is up
Why would anybody want to buy DirecTV after AT&T ruined it? That said, most 13 year olds could do a better job of running it.
The only reason why I have AT&T is for direct TV because of the NFL ticket. The Internet Service is not very good. The service is pretty pricey.
After being a customer of theirs since the 90s I finally canceled in 2018 because of the forced software update that rendered the system useless. They had no fix for it. Talking 5 second delay from time you press key on remote to a visual response on screen. Took a perfect working system and destroyed it all for the sake of fixing something that wasn’t broken. The new gui was terribly laid out. Around that time too I tried paying my bill and the automated system wouldnt allow me to pay , it transfered me to a person twice. The guy assured me no fee since the system was malfunctioning.
The next bill I had a $5 fee for bill pay assistance. They refused to credit me. At that exact moment I told them to f off and cancel my account. They tried to threaten me saying I’d be charged a cancellation fee. I said go right ahead I’ll never pay it and never did and never sent their gear back. I got the final word. Dont even care that it’s a collection now on my credit. That’s how much I hate them now. Bought a house and car since then never affected my credit. They lost a valuable customer who had been with them for 20 years all because a shit software update and a $5 phone fee. I’ve been using my antenna and streaming ever since. Just want to say I’m happy to hear ATT/ DTV is in the toilet for those sleazy bastards.
I agree with Jason. The “NEW” Software UP Grade
last time makes the Genie almost Useless.
HARD to find anything, Doesn’t work,
KILLED my Caller ID on the TV Screen for my LAND LAND.
(Used it Daily for all the Robo Calls)
This is AT&T who Invented CID.
Why would they KILL their OWN Product ?
Go to BBB and Google reviews and you will know why. ATT is just not that great.
I pay for tv channels and you take them! If you buy hamburger 🍔 from burger king don’t you want meat