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AT&T Buying DirecTV for $48.5 Billion
AT&T is acquiring satellite TV provider DirecTV in a deal worth $48.5 billion. This will bring 20 million more U.S. television subscribers under AT&T's roof, making it the second biggest TV provider, behind Comcast. The deal is subject to regulatory approval, and to help that along, AT&T says it will sell its 8% stake in America Movil, which is a competitor to DirecTV in some areas.
"By acquiring the country’s biggest satellite television operator, AT&T will help bolster its competitive position against Comcast. Though pay television is considered a mature market whose subscriber growth has slowed dramatically in recent years, the business nonetheless generates billions of dollars in cash. ... Part of the attraction may be DirecTV’s ample cash flow. While its business has shown little growth in recent years, it generated about $8 billion in earnings last year. Much of that will go toward future investments in growth, AT&T said, including bidding at least $9 billion for wireless network capacity that the government plans to auction off soon. By gaining satellite TV, AT&T may also be able to free up capacity on its existing broadband network."
AT&T can't be allowed to get any bigger than it is now. They had to break it up once already.
They are the last real competitor to terrestrial cable tv. And the only one whose DVR was bright enough to back up 10s when you fastforwarded through a commercial and released when you saw the show start whizzin' by.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
We know where all the money they should be using on upgrading their network is going.
If you spent HALF that on your network you'd crush your competition! What a crock of shit.
Nooooooooo!!!
cable television is something noone cares about [in] the age of the internet
That might be true once decades-long carriage contracts between the networks and the cable system operators expire and once decades-long contracts between the major professional and collegiate sport leagues and the networks expire. Until then, we're left with games that get blacked out online if shown on national or regional cable networks.
We have too low prices and too much speed. Think of the poor telecoms! They are just struggling to stay relevant and if only they owned all the last miles then how could they grab amazon and Netflix by the balls and tripple dip since they already charge both ways?
http://saveie6.com/
No reason why my bill should pay to run cable for people who live in the middle of no where
Because the people who grow the food you eat need a way to find the best market to sell the food that they grow.
who gives a f*k? cable television is something noone cares about... and anyone who does is a dumbass... this is the age of the internet.
Right and what if 4 years from now your internet connection must include TV and HBO at $200 a month or NO internet for you! (soup Nazi voice from Seinfeld)
http://saveie6.com/
Two companies I refused to do (any more) business with trying to become one company I won't do any business with.
How long til we end up with just ATT&T and Comcast as players?
Cannot help but observe how convenient it will be for the American surveillance state when we have only two sources for delivery of media and internet to the home. But I'm sure this is just paranoid lunacy, right?
A little over 10 years ago, Comcast merged with AT&T Broadband, which was the USA's largest cable television operator at that time. Now it comes down to one AT&T operation versus another. If divestiture hadn't happened, they might still be a utility, which is probably why we had divestiture.
I am afraid that, by owning a satellite television provider and a satellite internet provider, AT&T will proclaim that they have fulfilled the "universal service" mandate and refuse to upgrade any more legacy copper wire plant. There have been rumors that AT&T will not run new copper lines to a home or business if they are covered by any cell phone tower or any competing phone provider (including VoIP from another provider); nor will they replace faulty or noisy existing copper lines, since you could get service from a competitor.
Okay, so let them make that part of the "cost of doing business", like other just about every other business has to do. Farmers also have to have fuel to operate and haul equipment, seed, fertilizer/herbicide/pesticide, and product to and from "civilization", and they manage to do that just fine without my fuel getting taxed extra to pay for their fuel. I'd argue that fuel is a lot more important to the process than cheap high-speed Internet.
Fuel Tax in the USA /. which is pretty hard given all the competition but you have won the /. lottery this night my friend.
IRS definitions for non-taxable fuel uses "On a farm for farming purposes"
You might want to do a little research BEFORE embarrassing yourself on
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Assholes always preaching the gun. Meanwhile less than half the population bothers to vote. Lets actually USE the ballot box before we switch to the ammo box, huh? I mean, I get the allure, but that sort of things has a really shitty history of actually working.
Hell, if we all organized and stopped buying NIKE products until they told congress to behave, then moved from company to company just NOT buying products, we'd get immediate action. We could NOT do things and if we did it in an organized fashion, shit would change.
Or you could try taking your AR-15 and going up against military hardware and training. Good Luck!
Say goodbye to affordable internet and tv boys & girls....
I've got better things to do tonight than die.
Yup. That finger in our ass is the invisible hand of the Free Market. :D
Whenever someone tells me that the Free Market is better at regulating companies that government, I ask them to show me ONE example, since its so simple and easy. Just one. No, the gay hating wedding cake place doesn't count. Show me an example where a LARGE company EVER was punished by consumers for being assholes.
I still remember watching people roll into the ARCO (Part of B.P., it's right on the sign) gas station near my house right after the B.P. oil rig spill in the Gulf. There was a Shell right across the street. People just didn't care. It was 5cents cheaper a gallon. That's less than a buck savings on a regular gas tank, and the ignorant !@#$ers didn't even think about it. It still bothers me to this day.
Forget demand, you'll have to outbid them on the congressman auction. Good luck!
the people who buy it generally buy it because the bundle costs less with cable than it does without, or they are dumbasses who dont realize how to watch their shows online.
People who watch all of their shows online are a tiny fraction of viewers in total, and people who don't share your attitudes in this regard aren't "dumbasses"; they just have different preferences and priorities than you have.
If the choice is Tweedledee and Tweedledum and both got a nice 'bonus' check, good luck.
You'll need double good luck to get the GOP to agree to nationalize anything.