Rupert Murdoch trying to get satellite TV monopoly, buy Dish Network?

[cascadiance]

Echostar's stock just went up last week with rumors of the Newscorp (aka Rupert Murdoch) owned satellite TV system DirecTV buying Echostar Communications Corp, which owns Dish Network.

Folks this sounds scary. Does this mean the end of things like Free Speech TV channel, and maybe even Link TV, if he has monopoly power to get rid of them on both systems without competitive pressure for them to be kept there, when Murdoch gets his mitts on Dish Network if this happens? This increasing media consolidation just really sucks!

There were earlier rumors that XM Satellite Radio was making a pitch for Sirius too. XM also has a big ownership stake by Murdoch's Newscorp as well. They could own ALL of the satellite-based commercial communications soon if Bushco allows them too!

From:
http://washington.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2006/07/17/daily37.html

EchoStar stock upgraded amid merger rumors
The Denver Business Journal - 2:31 PM MDT Wednesday

Shares of EchoStar Communications Corp. were upgraded to "buy" from "sell" by Citigroup because of the expectation the satellite TV provider will merge with its rival DirecTV Group Inc.

Englewood-based EchoStar (NASDAQ: DISH) attempted to purchase El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) three years ago in a deal that was thwarted by federal regulators concerned about antitrust laws.

But News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, who controls DirecTV, has demonstrated renewed interest in EchoStar, which has 12 million subscribers nationwide through its Dish Network.

During a media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, last week, EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen said that a DirecTV-EchoStar union could save $3 billion in expenses a year.

At the same conference, DirecTV chief Chase Carey said the regulatory environment has changed since EchoStar's ill-fated bid to buy DirecTV.
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[INdemo]

1. That wont happen ...the Feds will not allow it

But if they do..then it is certainly partisan politics allowing a monopoly..

[cascadiance]

2. Which feds though?...

Bush's feds at the FCC seem to be more worried about prosecuting obscenity than preventing media consolidation, and look at how AT&T is being allowed to reform even after we broke them up earlier! How many anti-trust cases have been active since Ashcroft succeeding in helping get Microsoft anti-trust ruling overturned the Friday before election day in 2002, by one of their shill judges Colleen Kollar-Kotelly?

[INdemo]

3. The SEC will not allow a monopoly

[cascadiance]

4. I hop you're right, but Murdoch thinks that "things are different now"...

Murdoch seems to be more worried about getting through co-founder and majority shareholder Charlie Ergen of Dish Network/Echostar than he is about federal regulators rejecting the merger on anti-trust rules. Sounds like Ergen is asking that he be made head of the joint company then. Does that sound like the Deal that Ted Turner and CNN made with AOL/Time Warner folks? All of us Dish Network subscribers should write letters to Charlie Ergen urging him to reject Murdoch's offer. Perhaps that's another way to stave off this attempt to monopolize the media.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_82_4862430,00.html

Denver Inc.: Murdoch concerned about negotiating with Ergen

July 22, 2006
Nevermind what federal regulators and consumer advocates might think of a possible merger between DirecTV and EchoStar, the nation's largest satellite-TV companies. Rupert Murdoch's worried about Charlie Ergen.

Rumors that Murdoch's DirecTV wants to buy Ergen's Douglas County-based Dish Network heated up this week.

Murdoch said a hurdle to such a potential deal would be getting through the negotiating stage with his "good friend" Ergen, which "would be very painful." The News Corp. and DirecTV chairman made the comments in an interview Friday on the Charlie Rose Show.

Ergen, 53, who co-founded Dish Network and is its controlling shareholder, would probably also want to run the merged company "at least for a while," Murdoch said.

He didn't say whether he would accept such an arrangement.

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And Murdoch's friends in China quote Murdoch as saying he feels it would be difficult to reject a merger. saying there are "so many alternatives to getting pictures and information. We should make sure that all of these regulators know that Dish Network is the only place many of us can get truely alternative news and info from Free Speech TV, and that Link TV is only available through satellite and with a merger, Murdoch could choose to dump it without competitive pressure if he wanted to. Any other attempt at starting a national channel that wouldn't have to be blocked by geographic concerns of local media companies would also then have to go through Murdoch, since satellite is really the only offering aside from the internet (which may not be as free if net neutrality goes) that can offer true national competitive offerings to local cable and over the air setups.

I think clearly that Murdoch is trying to get this power play going while he feels that Washington is friendly to him that might not be in place in 2007 and in the future.

From:
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/07/24/287008/Murdoch__Difficult_to_reject_merger.htm

Murdoch: Difficult to reject merger
Michael White
2006-07-24
NEWS Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch said US regulators would find it difficult to reject a merger of his DirecTV Group Inc and rival satellite television provider EchoStar Communications Corp.

The union of the two, the largest US satellite operators, would pose less of a threat to competition than in the past because consumers have more ways to get news and entertainment, Murdoch said on the "Charlie Rose" television show.

"There are so many alternatives, ways of getting pictures and information," Murdoch said. "I think it would be much harder for the government to turn it down."

Murdoch, 75, didn't say whether News Corp or DirecTV is in talks to buy the smaller EchoStar, or whether he wants to bid for it. Antitrust regulators rejected EchoStar's attempt in 2001 to buy DirecTV when it was a unit of General Motors Corp. News Corp, which purchased a controlling stake in DirecTV in 2003, had lobbied against EchoStar's bid.

"It was clearly in those times very doubtful legally," Murdoch said.

The Los Angeles Times reported on July 17 that El Segundo, California-based DirecTV is considering a bid. A merger is more likely since EchoStar and DirecTV formed a joint venture to bid for wireless spectrum in an auction next month, Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet wrote in a note last week.

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