Ioman
09-26-2002, 10:24 PM
http://www.designtechnica.com/article.php?sid=2160
CNN and other news agencies are reporting that staff in the U.S. Justice Department are not in favor of the pending merger of the two top digital satellite TV manufacturers – GM’s DIRECTV and Echostar’s Dish Network. The reason for the lack of support for the merger is reportedly that there are only two competitors in the DSS market and the deal will leave people who can’t get cable or terrestrial TV with only one satellite TV option. Echostar and GM argue that cable TV companies own over 80 percent of the pay TV market and merging is the best way for them to compete.
At first I thought for a split second that this is a GOOD thing because I really dislike the cable companies. But in reality, i would hate to see a merger happen. As concumers we would lose our choice and Echostar in reality could charge whatever they wanted to as long as they were competitive with cable. They could also skimp on the digital signal and other features.
So I am voting NO to this merger.
CNN and other news agencies are reporting that staff in the U.S. Justice Department are not in favor of the pending merger of the two top digital satellite TV manufacturers – GM’s DIRECTV and Echostar’s Dish Network. The reason for the lack of support for the merger is reportedly that there are only two competitors in the DSS market and the deal will leave people who can’t get cable or terrestrial TV with only one satellite TV option. Echostar and GM argue that cable TV companies own over 80 percent of the pay TV market and merging is the best way for them to compete.
At first I thought for a split second that this is a GOOD thing because I really dislike the cable companies. But in reality, i would hate to see a merger happen. As concumers we would lose our choice and Echostar in reality could charge whatever they wanted to as long as they were competitive with cable. They could also skimp on the digital signal and other features.
So I am voting NO to this merger.