Cablevision Satellite Sale Seen Likely

[Scott Greczkowski]

If you will remember, I said recently it would not suprise me if Cablevision sold its Rainbow 1 satellite to Echostar.

Looks like what I said might just come true!

Here is an excerpt from the following news story froom Dow Jones
http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/030210/1139000729_1.html

The delay comes at a good time since satellite broadcaster EchoStar Communications Corp. (NasdaqNM:DISH - News) will probably be looking to buy additional capacity. Its rival, Hughes Electronics Corp.'s DirecTV, recently said that it will expand its offering of local broadcast signals to more than 100 U.S. markets. Cablevision's satellite is configurable with EchoStar's system, the analyst said, estimating the satellite's worth between $350 million to $500 million.

[Mike123abc]

It sure would be nice if E* got its hands on this satellite. They could do a lot of LIL to a lot of secondary markets. It was always my thought that they get it and do LIL HDTV for the top east coast markets (ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX), but adding 50 more LIL markets would probably be what they do with it.

[gcutler]

But isn't Dish limited by the # of transponders so unless the satellite is more "Efficient" somehow, more satellites don't make a difference?

[jeffwtux]

gcutler: aren't they limited only by the number of transponders per orbital position? Oh this is at the 6.15 orbital position isn't it?

[jeffwtux]

OOPS, that was a typo. I obviously mean 61.5 not 6.15

[Mike123abc]

Well it would be assumed that in addition to the R/L DBS satellite, Dish would pick up the license for the 11 transponders R/L DBS has at 61.5. Dish could probably acquire the remaining 2 unassigned transponder frequencies too. This would give Dish 24 at 61.5 and 24 at 148 (plus those it leases from SA on 61.5).

[Jacob S]

The article does not say that they are selling to Dish.

[gcutler]

Originally posted by Mike123abc
Well it would be assumed that in addition to the R/L DBS satellite, Dish would pick up the license for the 11 transponders R/L DBS has at 61.5. Dish could probably acquire the remaining 2 unassigned transponder frequencies too. This would give Dish 24 at 61.5 and 24 at 148 (plus those it leases from SA on 61.5).

But I believe there is a limit to how many transponders in conus that one company can have (FCC rules or something)? I just remember reading it in the past. The reason Dish sold some to Skyangel (and leased them back) was so they could buy them at 110 from the original owner. The benefit of the merger was that they could get them all in the easy 101-119 range instead of having to keep use/keep the 61.5 and 148 . But I may be mistaken?????

[Bob Haller]

No surprise there. Single satellite sevice not viable. Hey we knew that years agoi. See sky reports. Breaking news today, old news last year....

Specuates sale to E. Just as predicted...Spot beam bird should be useful....

[JBKing]

Feedhorn? Is that you?

[Jacob S]

This does not sound like news from Cablevision but someone's opinion instead. I would like to see this satellite service get started so that it will be an alternative for those that have DirecTv or Dish Network. They seem like they have a different way of going about selling the service. I have had a LOT of people request to purchase channels indiviudually or smaller packages. That is what this service was going to do. When the other company wants to start up at 105.5 I hope they do not sell out. I believe they wanted to provide service to customers directly from the channel themselves if I understood correctly. We need a little more choice to keep Dish and DirecTv on their toes to keep them in check and competitive.

[Mike123abc]

It was not from cablevision but wall street analysts. The problem cablevision faces now is that the street will start to pressure them to sell the satellite service. The Merrill analyst must be listening to rumors on the street that the satellite is for sale. Many times pending deals are well known. Cablevision may have started talks with various people to sell the service, but just not announced it publicly.

[Jacob S]

Also I seen on here where it would be worth a lot more launched than on the ground so they may actually launch it before selling it.

[Ken_F]

It's also worth a lot less if something goes wrong during launch...