Don't expect a DirecTV/Dish Network deal to face the same anticompetitive obstacles as a similar merger attempt did 22 years ago, antitrust and FCC experts tell us. The two direct broadcast satellite (DBS) companies said Monday they reached an agreement where DirecTV would buy EchoStar's Dish and Sling video distribution businesses for $1. DirecTV will also assume an estimated $9.75 billion in Dish DBS debt. The companies said they expect regulatory approval before the end of next year.
Matt Daneman
Matt Daneman, Senior Editor, covers pay TV, cable broadband, satellite, and video issues and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications in 2015 after more than 15 years at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, where he covered business among other issues. He also was a correspondent for USA Today. You can follow Daneman on Twitter: @mdaneman
The FCC's 988 wireless call georouting draft order on its Oct. 17 open meeting agenda (see 2409250041) opens the possibility of the agency also requiring georouting of text messages. The georouting draft order and the other October agenda item -- a draft order requiring that all wireless handsets be hearing-aid compatible -- were released Thursday. Also on the agenda is an unspecified restricted adjudicatory Media Bureau matter.
ATLANTA -- The U.S. is taking an increasingly hard line against all connected Chinese and Russian devices, not just those from particular manufacturers such as Huawei, cybersecurity expert Clete Johnson told attendees at SCTE's annual TechExpo Wednesday. Meanwhile, cable providers at TechExpo discussed why it's imperative that there is better convergence in wireline and mobile services.
ATLANTA -- The cable industry faces potential workforce struggles in coming years due to employee demographics and federal broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) plan spending, CableLabs CEO Phil McKinney told us Tuesday at SCTE's 2024 TechExpo. At the same time, BEAD is helping generate interest within the construction industry, he said in an interview. Meanwhile, some spectrum experts at TechExpo urged a broad rethinking of how the U.S. approaches spectrum management (see 2409240045).
ATLANTA -- Spectrum experts at SCTE's 2024 TechExpo event Tuesday were upbeat about increased spectrum sharing but said that replicating the citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) sharing model in other bands will require better technology first. Some said that the U.S. needs a wholesale rethinking of its spectrum management approach. Also at TechExpo, CableLabs CEO Phil McKinney said the cable industry could face a labor crunch in coming years (see 2409240004).
The FCC gave the green light to extended milestone deadlines for EchoStar's 5G network buildout Friday, three days after the company filed its request (see 2409190050). EchoStar called the approval "a significant step to promote competition in the wireless market."
Citing "unanticipated intervening global events beyond [its] control," EchoStar is seeking additional time to meet construction milestones attached to some of its wireless licenses. An advantage EchoStar has is that the FCC wants to see increased national wireless network competition, analysts told us.
Cable is increasingly employing fiber to the home (FTTH) in its networks, and competition is accelerating that drive, cable industry experts said Thursday during an SCTE webinar. Cable operators' expansions into greenfield areas like converted farmland almost exclusively are fiber, said Jack Burton, Broadband Success Partners principal. Anyone operating a coaxial cable network and not planning to incorporate or add fiber "is in for a rude awakening" from fiber competition, he said.
The FCC gave the go-ahead to EchoStar's request this week for extensions of milestones in its 5G network buildout. In a notation Friday in the FCC's Universal Licensing System, the agency said it granted the extension request contingent on EchoStar fulfilling the conditions it made with its application. EchoStar previously cited issues ranging from the pandemic's impact on supply chains to the cost of moving Boost subscribers from the legacy Sprint CDMA network to the T-Mobile network as reasons for delaying its 5G work. Accordingly, it asked that the FCC extend 2025 milestone deadlines into late 2026.
SpaceX landing United Airlines as an in-flight connectivity customer could signal its domination of that sector, analysts and consultants say. In its announcement Friday, United said it will begin testing the Starlink service early in 2025, with the first passenger flights getting service later that year. United said passengers would receive Starlink connectivity for free.