Free Newsletter
AT&T chooses DirecTV over Dish
AT&T, perhaps looking to head off speculation about its satellite TV plans after last week's extension of its resale partnership with Dish Network, has announced that DirecTV will be its sole satellite partner starting in February 2009. It may seem like a surprising choice, given that AT&T just extended the Dish arrangement and previously had stopped re-selling DirecTV in the former BellSouth region, but the carrier had maintained a stance all along that it was evaluating its options.
With the ongoing success of IPTV, it is not clear how much longer a satellite TV partnership will be important to the telco. It sells bundles that include satellite TV and has way more satellite TV customers (2.1 million) than IPTV customers (549,000, as of the second quarter), but IPTV has been closing the gap.
Meanwhile, as cable TV and telco TV players knock heads, and DirecTV benefits from ongoing partnerships with the big telcos, you have to wonder what will come of Dish Network. The company's parent, EchoStar, last year was rumored to be close to getting acquired by AT&T, and now Dish has no major U.S. telco partners at all.
For more:
- read this story at The Wall Street Journal
Related articles
AT&T just extended its resale partnership with Dish Network
AT&T was once rumored to be a potential suitor for EchoStar
More stories about Cable TV Telco AT&T Telco Tv Directv Bellsouth Satellite Tv Customers Dish Network
Comments
Posted by Bernie Arnason | September 29, 2008 - 9:44pm
"Dish has no major U.S. telco partners at all." Really. Embarq, Windstream, Frontier, and CenturyTel all have partnerships with Dish. I agree that DirecTV has a coup with the baby bells, and therefore a huge lead. But, the four telcos that Dish is partnered with are the #4 through #7 largest telcos in the U.S. I guess it depends on how you define "major."
Posted by WilliamC | September 30, 2008 - 11:40am
It always sounds good in print. Until you do your research. Then you read it and think the situation is as dire as it is reported. Maybe we should call this "frantic" news instead of news. I guess you have to make it sound bad in order for it to be news. Sorry for the repetition. You'd think Dish network was going out of business. All they need to do is offer some interactive channels like Directv and make some deals with sport teams and offer On demand services. It could help them out. Let's offer solutions so our companies do not go out of business.
Posted by Fred | October 2, 2008 - 3:30am
The key objective for telcos is to offer a 3play offer in a battle for share of spendings of households. Not all households are eligible to IPTV. DTH provides an unique solution to access all households. I would not oppose IPTV and DTH; they are two ways of delivering TV in a bundled take all marketing strategy.
SHARE
WITH:
Comments (3) | Post a comment