Dish boss: Competing is 'more fun' than Comcast/Verizon-type deal
"We're not a peace company," Charlie Ergen tells Bloomberg
Dish boss: Competing is 'more fun' than Comcast/Verizon-type deal
Joseph N. DiStefano
There are two kinds of giant companies: The kind that makes deals with other giant companies and preserve fat profit margins at customers' expense, and the kind that embraces free market competition.
At least that's what Charlie Ergen, boss at Dish Network, tells Bloomberg News in this article (cited by Todd Juenger of Bernstein & Co. in a report to clients today). Excerpt:
"Dish won’t partner with Verizon, even if it’s “smart business” because the largest U.S. wireless provider struck a deal to market products from rival cable companies, including Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp. and New York-based Time Warner Cable Inc., Ergen said," according to Bloomberg.
“They made peace with cable, and we’re not a peace company,” Ergen added. “It just wouldn’t be any fun.”
:
Good! I still can't believe the government allow the Verizon-Comcast deal.— flyers2thecup- Ergen is just as selfish as the rest. I have had Dish for 3 yrs with the promise that they would find a way to get us Phillies and Sixers/Flyers games. Sounds like he is not interested in providing for his long suffering customers in the Delaware Valley! Another selfish, malignant spawn of a buisness man!!@#$%^!!!— beneben
- What comcast verizon deal?— Capsulef
- What comcast verizon deal?— Capsulef
- Comcast-Universal NBC deal. Not Verizon.— Servo
- What the writer is referring to is the deal where Verizon purchased Comcast's wireless bandwidth. As a sweetener, Verizon put an end to its expansion of FiOS into areas it does not already have an agreement in place with the local government. This leaves cities like Boston and Baltimore with virtually no chance of ever getting FiOS. Why? Actually, it was done for financial reasons. Verizon took a look at the overall cost of deploying new fiber across its footprint and decided that the business model for the 21st Century had changed. No longer do people need hard wires to view TV, etc. The growth in communications is in wireless. it's pure and simple - Verizon made a business decision. They took a look at the speeds generated by thier conversion to a 4G LTE network and decided that it was silly to keep spending to build hard infrastructure. With wireless showing year-over-year growth and the land line business shrinking, Verizon would gladly sell the wire business tomorrow, but the buyers are almost non-existent. (There are other issues like union labor, pensions, etc., but they are for another day). So, you can call it a deal, but Verizon was not going to keep building FiOS forvere anyhow. It's a shame because it is a great service. It kills any competitor's product. But, the business model in telecom has changed and Verizon is chasing profits. Comcast is glad to see them go. Comcast made great protective moves by purchasing NBC-Universal. Thier business offset is content. It will carry them into the future, because once thier coaxial cable network gets too old, they won't be replacing it. By then, it will be a wireless world - it already is.— martycon
