Analyst: AT&T to Pick EchoStar Over DirecTV

ANALYST: AT&T TO PICK ECHOSTAR OVER DIRECTV
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Moss]
With the economic stakes enormous, AT&T is “likely” to pick EchoStar Communications, not DirecTV, when it migrates to just one satellite-TV service for its bundle by the end of the year. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett wrote that AT&T’s planned move “presents a classic zero-sum game: It is clearly bad news for one DBS provider, but good news for the other … We believe the loser will begin posting negative subscriber growth within a year.” AT&T has deals now to use both direct-broadcast satellite providers to provide video for bundles that also include phone service. But chief financial officer Rick Lindner announced May 16 that the telco would “migrate to one provider” for its video service by year’s end. Moffett believes EchoStar, parent of Dish Network, is likely to be named the exclusive DBS provider for AT&T. “We think the two companies are more closely aligned -- operationally and strategically -- than are AT&T and DirecTV,” Moffett wrote. “Just as important, Dish needs this arrangement more than DirecTV does; without it, they would be without a terrestrial broadband partner in fully 90% of the United States.”
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6448829.html