US telecoms giant Verizon Communications has poured cold water on the notion that it might follow its rival AT&T’s lead and buy a DTH broadcaster.
Speaking at a TMT conference in Boston today, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said: “I don’t feel that…
US telecoms giant Verizon Communications has poured cold water on the notion that it might follow its rival AT&T’s lead and buy a DTH broadcaster.
Speaking at a TMT conference in Boston today, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said: “I don’t feel that owning a satellite company is something I’m finding intriguing at this point.”
Following AT&T’s US$48.5bn acquisition of DirecTV, speculation has mounted that Verizon could buy America’s other main satellite TV provider, Dish Network.
“I know there are reports out there that we are talking to Dish,” McAdam told the conference. “I can tell you that’s somebody’s fantasy.”
He said he thought the AT&T/DirecTV deal made sense for those companies, but that Verizon was not looking to do another merger following its US$130bn consolidation of Verizon Wireless. That deal closed earlier this year and McAdam said Verizon was focused on paying it off.
He conceded that Dish had some interesting assets and there were things the company could do with Verizon, but said he was more interested in over-the-top, mobile-first video services, as opposed to what he called a “linear play”.
Asked to comment on the prospect of a possible merger between smaller players Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US, the CEO said: “If it becomes a three player market the economist would argue that we’d probably be better off … Typically three player markets are more stable than four player markets.”
