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Wall Street Suffering Extends to Satellite
30 Sep 2008 - 11:57 by soullezz    Industry News |

Monday was tough for everyone on Wall Street … including the satellite folks.

After the House failed to pass the Bush Administration's $700 billion Wall Street bailout, the Dow fell by more than 777 points during trading Monday, to 10,365.45. The BRIDGE Multiplatform Index (which can be found at http://www.mediabiz.com/index) tumbled more than 9 percent to 1,301.73.

On the satellite side, DISH Network shares fell more than 18 percent to $19.97 (see story below on the AT&T/DIRECTV deal and implications for DISH). EchoStar shares tumbled more than 9 percent to $24.10.

DIRECTV closed down more than 10 percent to $23.65.

Sirius also continued its slide. Shares in the satellite radio company fell more than 18 percent to 62 cents a share.


Street Eyes AT&T/DIRECTV Deal
30 Sep 2008 - 11:57 by soullezz    Industry News |

Wall Street reacted to news that AT&T is going with DIRECTV as its DBS partner, leaving DISH Network out of the telco's sales and marketing mix after Jan. 31, 2009.

AT&T announced late Friday its plan to switch from DISH to DIRECTV for its exclusive satellite TV sales and marketing efforts. The news had financial analysts scrambling to revise subscriber forecasts for the two DBS companies.

Tom Eagan of Collins Stewart raised his 2009 subscriber net adds estimate for DIRECTV from 748,000 to 915,000. As for the other small dish platform, the analyst said he expects DISH will add just 12,000 net adds next year, down from a previous estimate of 218,000 net adds.

Eagan said the AT&T/DIRECTV agreement "puts DIRECTV in the enviable position of being the satellite TV player AT&T may consider acquiring should its U-Verse TV service does not meet expectations next year."

Craig Moffett of Bernstein Research called the AT&T/DIRECTV announcement "a clear negative for DISH Network." The analyst said he expects DISH to post a sizable subscriber loss (up to 400,000 customers) for full year 2009. Moffett had previously expected flat net growth for the No. 2 small dish service.

Moffett said he expects DIRECTV to gain 800,000 customers next year, a doubling of previous expectations.

Bernstein lowered its price target for DISH shares to $23 and jumped its price target for DIRECTV shares to $36.


Markey Bill Eyes Digital Radio/Sat Radio Capabilities
30 Sep 2008 - 11:56 by soullezz    Industry News |

Ed Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, on Monday introduced a bill that would require the availability of digital terrestrial radio services in key audio electronics, including satellite radio receivers.

Specifically, Markey's "Radio All Digital Channel Receiver Act" would mandate that devices that get satellite radio signals and terrestrial AM/FM broadcasts have the capability to receive digital radio signals from AM and FM stations. "As the broadcast radio industry migrates to digital broadcasting technology, this legislation will ensure that consumers are able to readily receive free service through consumer electronics systems that are otherwise receiving satellite digital audio radio and traditional AM or FM stations," the lawmaker said in a statement.

Markey said the summer merger of satellite radio companies XM and Sirius "has underscored the importance of ensuring consumer access to a diversity of sources for digital radio content, in particular content originating in their local communities."

The bill has support from other lawmakers. Co-sponsors of the legislation include Reps. Lee Terry (R-Neb.), Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas), Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), and Dan Burton (R-Ind.).


EchoStar Supports SkyWay USA Services
30 Sep 2008 - 11:56 by soullezz    Industry News |

EchoStar and its EchoStar Satellite Services unit entered into an agreement with SkyWay USA to provide transponder services that support the broadband internet offering.

Through the agreement, EchoStar will provide SkyWay USA with domestic Ku-Band satellite bandwidth. That capacity will be used by SkyWay USA to provide high-speed satellite internet services across rural America.

"We are pleased to enter into this agreement with SkyWay USA to provide them with critical bandwidth to support their rural satellite internet solution," said Dean Olmstead, president of EchoStar Satellite Services. "With EchoStar's U.S. fleet of powerful Ku and Ka-Band satellites, we were able to provide an immediate solution to help SkyWay USA expand its customer base."


Keynotes Set for ISIS 2008
27 Sep 2008 - 05:01 by soullezz    Industry News |

The third annual ISCe Satellite Investment Symposium (also known as ISIS), will be held Oct. 14 at the 3 West Club in New York City, an event that will feature industry executives, financial analysts, private equity representatives, bankers and the media.

The one-day program will kick off with a morning keynote from David Meltzer, senior vice president of American Red Cross International Services. Meltzer, who is responsible for global disaster response operations as well as long-term health programs in more than 20 countries, will speak about the critical role of satellite communications and targeted technologies in meeting the needs of victims, post-disaster responders and aid workers.

Also, Mark Dankberg, chairman and CEO at ViaSat, will provide the closing keynote address. Dankberg's company has been named three times to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing privately held companies and made Red Herring magazine's "Small Cap 100" list for 2005.

Additionally, after the tumultuous summer and early fall financial crises, a special "Analysts' Spotlight on the Wall Street Meltdown" session has been added to the ISIS program. Analysts on the panel will share views on the rapidly changing financial sector, where the markets are headed, and the implications for the satellite and telecom financial markets.

New Slingbox from EchoStar, Programming Moves for DISH
27 Sep 2008 - 05:00 by soullezz    Industry News |

A number of key announcements came from the dual DISH Network/EchoStar camp Thursday.

For starters, Sling Media, a unit of EchoStar, unveiled its next generation Slingbox PRO-HD, available to consumers nationwide for $299.99.

The new Slingbox is capable of streaming HD content from any number of home television sources to a laptop or desktop computer in and around the house. Sources include over-the-air HD digital signals, digital cable channels, HDTV cable set-top boxes, HDTV satellite receivers or HD DVRs, the company said.

Additionally, for customers who have a high-speed broadband connection that features upload speeds of 1.5 Mpbs or higher, Slingbox PRO-HD can stream HD TV signals outside the home, EchoStar said.

On the DISH Network side, the DBS service said it reached an agreement with Sony Pictures Television to carry the studio's movies and other content on its video-on-demand platform, DISH On Demand. The deal also covers DISH pay-per-view services, and provides for carriage of both standard definition and high-def content, the company said.

Also, DISH highlighted its success with Olympics coverage presented by NBC this past summer.

DISH said the Olympics content was watched by more than 41 percent of its subscribers through its interactive TV services. DISH partnered with NBCU and iTV company Ensequence to develop and host a variety of NBC Olympics interactive programming and advertisements tied to coverage of the summer Games.



FCC Moves on 700 MHz D Block Issues
27 Sep 2008 - 04:58 by soullezz    Industry News |

At its meeting Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission moved on a proposal to auction the challenged block of 700 MHz spectrum, revising part of the rules governing the public/private partnership that was part of the original auction of frequencies.

Earlier this year, the FCC auctioned off three blocks of the coveted spectrum, and generated more than $19 billion in bids. The so-called D block of spectrum didn't meet its minimum bid requirements, and that compelled the FCC to revisit its plans for the spectrum block.

The FCC said it wants to keep intact the public/private partnership framework for the D block. The notice released by the commission Thursday proposes a modified set of rules to govern the block and the partnership and a revised auction plan for assigning D Block licenses. The proposal from the FCC also lowered the minimum bid price to $750 million.

The FCC said it wants to use the competitive bidding process to determine whether, based on population coverage and highest bid, whether the D Block should be licensed to a single entity on a nationwide basis or to regional licensees in 58 regions. The commission also proposed revised obligations for D Block licensees and public safety users regarding the construction and operation of a shared wireless broadband network using the frequencies.

FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin said the proposals released Thursday attempt to strike the right balance between serving the communications needs of public safety and the need to ensure the commercially viability of any partnership.

"Let us be clear about what is at stake; without the partnership, there are no other viable tools for the commission to ensure that this network can be built in a timely manner, with a maximum level of interoperability for use by all public safety entities small and large, rural and urban," Martin said.



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