AT&T sold back there share to DIRECTV, for about a $30M profit. Not really a profit, though, when you consider how much they wasted trying to market the product.
The downside of the sale to DISH is that DIRECTV is no longer constrained to work with such an incompetent company. The upside, though, is that AT&T wanted to get out to start a relationship with a cable company - TCI. If they (AT&T) can do the same things for TCI that they did for DIRECTV, TCI is going to be especially vunerable.
Was I able to veil my contempt for AT&T? Probably not, but the only thing they ever did right was Bell Labs, and they spun that off as Lucent.
DISH, though, is not likely to have as much attractiveness to a baby bell as DIRECTV. If you are bell south, who do you want to partner with, an unpredictible Charlie Ergen, or a deep pocketed, comfortable GM? DISH is best off "staying the course" by attacking cable TV. It has gotten them this far, and it looks like the FCC is their biggest supporter.
NOEL |
