[Scott Greczkowski]

FCC Order: Cablevision Deal Unlikely

By Ted Hearn
Multichannel News
10/21/2002 12:23:00 AM

Release late Friday of the Federal Communication Commission's formal order rejecting the merger between EchoStar Communications Corp. and DirecTV Inc. did little to bolster the view that a deal with Cablevision Systems Corp. could cause the FCC to eventually approve the merger.

In the 117-page report that hammered the direct-broadcast satellite merger as massively anti-competitive, the FCC said Cablevision's proposed Rainbow 1 DBS service would need to be a more established player in the market to be considered a viable competitive check on a combined EchoStar-DirecTV.

Read the rest at http://www.tvinsite.com/multichannelnews/index.asp?layout=story&doc_id=105299&display=breakingNews

 

[jeffwtux]

So what's next? Dish and Direc have already promised universal pricing(cable doesn't even come close rates range 30% in the Metro Detroiit area alone which is criminal IMHO) and now allocated the spectrum for free in which a competitor could get started. They are practically going to have to fund this Cablevision which will compete with them, just to get this merger approved. The Republican feds have clearly been bought and paid for on this one by the cable lobby. Can anybody say SOFT MONEY?

 

[Win Joy Jr]

Sorry, but buying your competitor then forming a new competitor just does not pass the smell test. This plan scuttles the major arguments (benefits) FOR the merger.

On Edit: What's next? How about Echostar and DirecTV go about executing their Business Plan?

 

[James_F]

Jeff where is your support for the soft money argument?

Universal pricing doesn't matter if there isn't any competition. Why can't you people just realize that their merger plan wasn't good enough. It was thrown together from the start because Ecostar didnt' want DirecTV to fall into NewCorps hands IMO.

 

[jeffwtux]

Universal pricing is by far the best consumer protection there can ever be in the history of capitalism. Everybody knows what the price is everywhere, nobody feels cheated, and everybody knows when the price goes up. Every time Dish OR DirecTV wants to raise their rates they practically need to have a hearing before congress. It's definitely on their stock ticker news headlines everytime you get a stock quote. Meanwhile cable can raise the rates of 1 or 2 suburbs at a time 6-7% and nobody knows except in that specific suburb. They never publish their basic cable rates on their website. If you knew that your cable rates were higher than everybody people in your city would riot. Plus, there is competition against cable in for 80% of the population. The price will be based on the 80% not the 20% that don't have cable. There is no way Charlie is willing to ditch the 80% in order to maximize the profits on the monopolized 20%. Even so, with the universal pricing and visibility of the media, if Dish/Direct started escalating prices after the merger, the media would be all over it. Cable can raise rates 7% in one city and nobody knows. UNIVERSAL PRICING IS THE GREATEST THING IN THE HISTORY OF CONSUMER PROTECTION..

 

[jeffwtux]

James_F: what would you think if your cities' cable rates were 20-25% higher than everybody else's. Some people's are but they don't even know because rates aren't published. Charlie may be wrong on a few things, but he's not wrong about universal pricing.

 

[jeffwtux]

Universal pricing is by far the best consumer protection there can ever be in the history of capitalism. Everybody knows what the price is everywhere, nobody feels cheated, and everybody knows when the price goes up. Every time Dish OR DirecTV wants to raise their rates they practically need to have a hearing before congress. It's definitely on their stock ticker news headlines everytime you get a stock quote. Meanwhile cable can raise the rates of 1 or 2 suburbs at a time 6-7% and nobody knows except in that specific suburb. They never publish their basic cable rates on their website. If you knew that your cable rates were higher than everybody people in your city would riot. Plus, there is competition against cable in for 80% of the population. The price will be based on the 80% not the 20% that don't have cable. There is no way Charlie is willing to ditch the 80% in order to maximize the profits on the monopolized 20%. Even so, with the universal pricing and visibility of the media, if Dish/Direct started escalating prices after the merger, the media would be all over it. Cable can raise rates 7% in one city and nobody knows. UNIVERSAL PRICING IS THE GREATEST THING IN THE HISTORY OF CONSUMER PROTECTION..

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by jeffwtux
Every time Dish OR DirecTV wants to raise their rates they practically need to have a hearing before congress.

That's the LAST thing we need - the Government to dictate what goes on in private industry. While a merged Echostar/Directv would have gotten you 10 HDTV channels, LiL for 210 DMA's (including uncle bob's barn Upstate), it would have taken away any incentive for DBS providers to provide added value for the consumer.