The planned merger between two US pay-TV satellite broadcasters is definitely off – at least for the moment. A deadline set by DirecTV passed without fresh discussions or progress happening. The blame for the decision falls on Charlie Ergen’s Dish/EchoStar and its bond (debt) holders. Under the complex merger deal, which would have created the […]
It should not be forgotten in the acres of business news coverage over the DirecTV (and TPG) acquisition of DISH Network that in selling DISH, chairman Charlie Ergen is very much giving up his ‘baby’. When his EchoStar 1 satellite was launched on a Chinese Long March rocket in 1995 Ergen was in the launch […]
The long-awaited merger between DirecTV and Dish Network appears imminent and could be announced as early as September 30th, according to a report in the WSJ. If an agreement is reached, the result would be the creation of the largest pay-TV operator in the US. Together, the pair would have some 20 million subscribers. The […]
DirectTV, owned by telco giant AT&T and Charlie Ergen’s DISH Network are reportedly in “early stage” talks to merge their pay-TV businesses. The report from Bloomberg says a successful merger would create the largest pay-TV platform in North America with around 16 million subscribers. There have been talks about a merger between the two players […]
Dish Network, the troubled US satellite-TV provider with more than $20 billion (€18.3bn) in debt, is holding talks with some of its convertible holders about potential new financing, according to a Bloomberg report. Dish is said to have received financing offers from convertible noteholders to provide fresh capital tied to wireless spectrum held at a […]
EchoStar, the Charlie Ergen-owned pay-TV and satellite operator, is struggling. CEO Hamid Akhavan told analysts in the company’s post-results call with analysts that the company has $1.98 billion (€1.84bn) of debt maturing in November 2024, and is forecasting negative cash flows for the remainder of the calendar year. Current trading is not helping. It reported […]
Not the first time, merger reports between North America’s two DTH operators have emerged, but a Bloomberg report states that Charlie Ergen’s DISH Network (now part of his EchoStar business) is very open to merging with AT&T’s DirecTV. Shares of Dish Network rose 6.3 per cent on March 22nd while AT&T stock went up 1.9 […]
A report on EchoStar from analysts at Bond research specialist, Gimme Credit, looks at the newly-merged operation (with EchoStar absorbing DISH Network) and is blunt saying they expect the company to continue losing subscribers during 2024, which would lead to a decrease in revenue of around 6 per cent. The report expects EchoStar to be […]
EchoStar – already facing complaints from some shareholders over how owner Charlie Ergen restructured the DISH Network broadcasting business into a new operation – is facing another major legal hurdle which, this time, is the US Senate. Investment fund manager Buxton Helmsley Grp (BHG), which has holdings in EchoStar, has written to US Senators Elizabeth […]
As Mark Twain said when a newspaper incorrectly published his obituary, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” The same phrase could be used for last week’s commentaries on EchoStar’s results with more than a few experts suggesting that bankruptcy was more likely than ever. Even EchoStar’s own Form 10K SEC filing admitted that […]