SES Americom: Merger Needs Conditions

SES Americom, the North American unit of European satellite operator SES Global, told the top regulators eyeing the pending merger between EchoStar and DirecTV that conditions should be placed on the multi-billion-dollar combination.

A letter SES Americom sent Friday to Ken Ferree, chief of the Media Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission, and Charles James, head of the Justice Department's antitrust unit, said conditions are necessary since the combination threatens the development of Americom2Home, SES Americom's proposed satellite TV venture. The company said a combined company "will have the necessary market power and incentive to prevent Americom2Home from becoming a competitive force in the DBS arena."

One of the conditions SES asked for in its 15-page letter is to require the merged entity to provide competitors access to consumer satellite dishes and receivers. "EchoStar and DirecTV have announced that they will be replacing the existing dishes and receiving equipment of their customers after consummation of the merger in any event," SES said. "It should therefore not be particularly burdensome to require the use of a CPE (customer premises equipment) based on common standards, thereby allowing other service providers to manufacture replacement units capable of receiving the competitors' and New EchoStar's services."

SES also asked that the merged company give access to its local TV programming, and require competitors to pay reasonable wholesale rates to the combined entity for that access. Also among the concessions SES asked for was access to the merged company's retail distribution chain and content providers, and FCC help in bringing EchoStar and DirecTV "to the negotiation table" for discussions about Americom2Home and its coordination between the companies' orbital locations.

From SkyReport (Used with Permission)