Sorry Rural America, you're down to just 1 provider again. Enjoy your price hikes! Although, there's a decent chance Biden's administration shuts this down. Thanks Biden! Maybe that will sway some...
Sorry Rural America, you're down to just 1 provider again. Enjoy your price hikes!
Although, there's a decent chance Biden's administration shuts this down. Thanks Biden! Maybe that will sway some voters.
The government can’t just decide to block all mergers. The FTC did attempt to block the Microsoft-Activision merger but they lost in court because it was a weak case.
And as much as I think it was a terrible merger that shouldn't be allowed, I'd be hard pressed to argue that one less game company is as bad as collapsing the last major competitor in the space.
And as much as I think it was a terrible merger that shouldn't be allowed, I'd be hard pressed to argue that one less game company is as bad as collapsing the last major competitor in the space.
Hopefully getting this debt offloaded will allow Dish to actually get their act together re: rolling out their mobile network. It's ridiculous that they've built out so many cell sites, yet can't...
Hopefully getting this debt offloaded will allow Dish to actually get their act together re: rolling out their mobile network. It's ridiculous that they've built out so many cell sites, yet can't seem to move their customers over to their own network instead of paying through the nose to T-Mobile and AT&T for their MVNO agreements.
Then again, Charlie Ergen is a cheap and honestly pretty incompetent leader, so I'm not too optimistic until he's out of the management picture, or the financial situation continues to deteriorate to the point that they have to sell off to someone else (assuming another company wants a greenfield Open RAN 5G-only network, since companies like Rakuten Mobile aren't having much success in that space either).
Yeah I think their reasoning for the merger, that they’re gonna present to the DOJ is that they have to merge in order to compete with streaming services and whatever. I believe that was the...
Yeah I think their reasoning for the merger, that they’re gonna present to the DOJ is that they have to merge in order to compete with streaming services and whatever. I believe that was the concept behind the T-Mobile/Sprint merger.
The problem is, they don't really compete with streaming services. The majority of their customers don't have good broadband internet options (relevant snip below), often no cable provider. There...
The problem is, they don't really compete with streaming services. The majority of their customers don't have good broadband internet options (relevant snip below), often no cable provider. There is a bigger argument to be made against the rise of mobile internet, but even that is iffy once you get more than 50 miles from a major city.
But even with all of these potential options, a giant percentage of rural homes still don’t have the
option to buy a broadband product that meets the FCC’s definition of broadband of speeds of at
least 25/3 Mbps.
The merger wouldn’t affect satellite internet much. DirectTV doesn’t operate satellite internet, while Dish continues to operate HughesNet (which competes with ViaSat and Starlink). Ultimately, I...
The merger wouldn’t affect satellite internet much. DirectTV doesn’t operate satellite internet, while Dish continues to operate HughesNet (which competes with ViaSat and Starlink).
Ultimately, I suspect their customer base has been shrinking, and they are running into problems with high fixed costs and not enough subscribers. In the early 2000s it wasn’t uncommon to run into folks in the cities and suburbs who had satellite TV (my aunt’s family was one of them), but now, it’s increasingly limited to rural areas, and is now forced to compete with satellite internet. Honestly, I think the main reason for DirectTV buying Dish is precisely to gain an internet arm, and not fade into complete irrelevance.
Been awhile since I used satellite internet, but 15 years ago playing games was better on dialup because of lower latency. They also had data caps. Honestly, my dog isn't in this race anymore, and...
Been awhile since I used satellite internet, but 15 years ago playing games was better on dialup because of lower latency. They also had data caps.
Honestly, my dog isn't in this race anymore, and I can see the arguements in favor, but then I'd still much rather see a collapse and repurpose via bankrupcy auctions than mergers. I'm sure some other company could find a better use for those satellites.
Sorry Rural America, you're down to just 1 provider again. Enjoy your price hikes!
Although, there's a decent chance Biden's administration shuts this down. Thanks Biden! Maybe that will sway some voters.
Edit: Cross-linking the CNN article discussion as they pointed out something I couldn't find when I wrote this:
They let Blizzard and Microsoft merge. They also let Broadcom and VMware merge. Both sets were mergers with offering overlaps.
The Biden administration has filled “the highest number of enforcement actions since the US began requiring pre-merger antitrust review in 1976.”
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/mergers-and-acquisitions/biden-antitrust-enforcers-set-new-record-for-merger-challenges
The government can’t just decide to block all mergers. The FTC did attempt to block the Microsoft-Activision merger but they lost in court because it was a weak case.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/11/23779039/microsoft-activision-blizzard-ftc-trial-win
And as much as I think it was a terrible merger that shouldn't be allowed, I'd be hard pressed to argue that one less game company is as bad as collapsing the last major competitor in the space.
Hopefully getting this debt offloaded will allow Dish to actually get their act together re: rolling out their mobile network. It's ridiculous that they've built out so many cell sites, yet can't seem to move their customers over to their own network instead of paying through the nose to T-Mobile and AT&T for their MVNO agreements.
Then again, Charlie Ergen is a cheap and honestly pretty incompetent leader, so I'm not too optimistic until he's out of the management picture, or the financial situation continues to deteriorate to the point that they have to sell off to someone else (assuming another company wants a greenfield Open RAN 5G-only network, since companies like Rakuten Mobile aren't having much success in that space either).
Do you think Dish would go bankrupt if this doesn’t get approved?
Probably. But at least then the scraps could be snapped up by someone who isn't literally the only other competitor in the space (in the USA).
I don't think anybody's looking to start up a new satellite TV service in 2024.
Yeah I think their reasoning for the merger, that they’re gonna present to the DOJ is that they have to merge in order to compete with streaming services and whatever. I believe that was the concept behind the T-Mobile/Sprint merger.
The problem is, they don't really compete with streaming services. The majority of their customers don't have good broadband internet options (relevant snip below), often no cable provider. There is a bigger argument to be made against the rise of mobile internet, but even that is iffy once you get more than 50 miles from a major city.
The merger wouldn’t affect satellite internet much. DirectTV doesn’t operate satellite internet, while Dish continues to operate HughesNet (which competes with ViaSat and Starlink).
Ultimately, I suspect their customer base has been shrinking, and they are running into problems with high fixed costs and not enough subscribers. In the early 2000s it wasn’t uncommon to run into folks in the cities and suburbs who had satellite TV (my aunt’s family was one of them), but now, it’s increasingly limited to rural areas, and is now forced to compete with satellite internet. Honestly, I think the main reason for DirectTV buying Dish is precisely to gain an internet arm, and not fade into complete irrelevance.
Been awhile since I used satellite internet, but 15 years ago playing games was better on dialup because of lower latency. They also had data caps.
Honestly, my dog isn't in this race anymore, and I can see the arguements in favor, but then I'd still much rather see a collapse and repurpose via bankrupcy auctions than mergers. I'm sure some other company could find a better use for those satellites.
Where are the people enforcing the anti-trust laws?
They come next in the process, the stated "regulatory approval."
Don't worry, they'll get their paydays.