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AT&T Agrees to Purchase DirecTV (Was: ATT looking to buy Direct TV)

155K views 1K replies 202 participants last post by  James Long 
#1 ·
AT&T Has Approached DirecTV About Possible Acquisition

By
SHALINI RAMACHANDRAN and
THOMAS GRYTA

April 30, 2014 11:05 p.m. ET

AT&T has approached DirecTV about a possible acquisition of the satellite TV firm, say people familiar with the situation, the latest sign of a possible shakeup in the television industry.
A combination of AT&T with satellite TV firm DirecTV would create a pay television giant close in size to where Comcast Corp. will be if it completes its pending acquisition of Time Warner Cable.
DirecTV is the second biggest pay TV...
Full Story in Wall Street Journal
 
#1,227 ·
Herdfan said:
Oh, please don't give us the U-Verse DVR. :(
The Genie and/or Cxx Client could probably support Uverse today with updated software. The reverse isn't true, since the Uverse equipment lacks the tuners that are required. What you fear is impossible, though I suppose they could design new hardware and leave the same Uverse UI. I don't know why they would, if they do all-new hardware I bet it gets all-new software.
 
#1,229 ·
slice1900 said:
How does such an offering constitute migrating existing Directv customers? Dish offering Sling TV doesn't mean that Dish's satellite customers are being forced to switch.
I did not say "forced to switch". I pointed out that there is a path and a plan. Nothing forced. Just one ginormous company with more than one way to sell subscription TV ... unlike News Corp who didn't have another system of TV content delivery.
 
#1,230 ·
Diana C said:
No, News Corp moved all DirecTV DVR users over to a new hardware/software platform that they are still trying to get right.
Was the move at the behest of News Corp or was DIRECTV simply growing weary of NDS (majority owned by News Corp at the time)?

NDS subsequently sold in 2012 to Cisco.
 
#1,231 ·
Herdfan said:
On the flip side, how hard would it be to make the Genie line be compatible with U-Verse. It can record from the internet and stream You-tube etc., but could it be configured to use the U-Verse stream?
It probably wouldn't be all that difficult in smaller installs, but look at how many HD channels Uverse can stream at once. They claim that they can deliver five on their "Gigapower" installations but how many markets have that technology?

Converting the Genie's DECA band to a higher frequency MoCA band may not be feasible so there might have to be some shuffling or conversion to GigE.
 
#1,233 ·
Herdfan said:
...Would wireless ever have the bandwidth to support that many concurrent users streaming Netflix?
Yes. There are numerous new transmission technologies being pursued by many different organizations all focused on improving service levels. We are not very far away from wireless being able to compete on almost every level with wired. And most any shortcomings that are imposed by physics (such as reception issues inside a steel frame structure) are solvable as well. Verizon and AT&T clearly feel that wireless is the future, and they already have the national infrastructure to support it.
 
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#1,234 ·
harsh said:
Was the move at the behest of News Corp or was DIRECTV simply growing weary of NDS (majority owned by News Corp at the time)?

NDS subsequently sold in 2012 to Cisco.
It was News Corp that drove the move away from TiVo and towards an in-house software based on the Sky+ platform. The red/blue/yellow/green buttons (now down to just a red button the RC7x remotes) were an artifact of that move. They still license Videoguard technology.
 
#1,236 ·
Netflix raised some issues they have with AT&T and want the government to impose conditions to remedy them as part of the merger agreement, even though they aren't related to the merger per se. This is fairly common as the best time for companies to address such concerns is when companies want to merge and are willing to accept conditions to make it happen.
 
#1,237 ·
Herdfan said:
But not all U-Verse subs can get satellite. My M-I-L has U-Verse mainly because she can't receive a sat signal at her home. So if AT&T moves as many over to sat as they can, which will probably be a large majority of their base, what happens to the few 100K that can't move? Do they get dumped?
ATT will sell it. Plain & simple, they'll be sat & wireless when they're gone.
 
#1,238 ·
Drucifer said:
ATT will sell it. Plain & simple, they'll be sat & wireless when they're gone.
I disagree. I believe that ultimately, satellite will be a memory for most and DIRECTV will typically be delivered terrestrially. This is why DIRECTV needs this merger. If they didn't, they wouldn't be partnering with someone who will provide them a terrestrial path.
 
#1,240 ·
harsh said:
I disagree. I believe that ultimately, satellite will be a memory for most and DIRECTV will typically be delivered terrestrially. This is why DIRECTV needs this merger. If they didn't, they wouldn't be partnering with someone who will provide them a terrestrial path.
I disagree with this assessment. Satellite delivery is still a very viable methodology and DIRECTV's satellite fleet will certainly serve them long into the 2020s. By that time I forecast that linear TV as a concept will falter and eventually fail. Everything will be IP streamed, and even multicast IP can be delivered by satellite.
 
#1,241 ·
Stuart Sweet said:
I disagree with this assessment. Satellite delivery is still a very viable methodology and DIRECTV's satellite fleet will certainly serve them long into the 2020s. By that time I forecast that linear TV as a concept will falter and eventually fail. Everything will be IP streamed, and even multicast IP can be delivered by satellite.
DVB-S2X includes provision for IP transport streams.
 
#1,242 ·
Stuart Sweet said:
Everything will be IP streamed, and even multicast IP can be delivered by satellite.
As the content providers get more stinky about DRM, I think this will hit a wall.

It could go either way but I see a situation where people become so unattached to their televisions for general TV viewing that DTH satellite will no longer make much sense.

Then again, I don't buy the idea that bundling is all-important to being a MCVP. I see having a broadband as being the only component needed for future TV delivery.
 
#1,244 ·
#1,245 ·
hdtvfan0001 said:
Time will tell...but plenty of other folks don't share that forecast...especially with the contrasting dynamics of broadband pricing and capacity controls.
This is surely why the FCC being so vocal (if not active) about insuring broadband competition and neutrality.

Most of the arguments about those who don't buy my argument revolve around supporting those who live way out yonder in East Jesus. As time goes on, these people are better served than most think with newer and more widely deployed wireless technologies.
 
#1,249 ·
#1,251 ·
They are not opposed to it. Did you read any of the links?
 
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