You may have heard about Verizon and AT&T paying billions for airwaves in the recent government auction for radio spectrum. However, you may not have heard about the purchase made by DISH Network. The company made an aggressive bid, winning a near nationwide channel and surprising the pay-TV industry in the process. Most cable TV companies as well as DirecTV didn’t bid at the auction.
Paying $712 million, DISH Network won the old UHF channel 56 across the whole country (168 licenses), excluding New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Qualcomm purchased the remaining channel 56 licenses in the auction.
What’s DISH Network thinking? Interactive services? Mobile video service? The spectrum doesn’t allow for two-way communication, so it’s hard to make any conclusions. Here’s an interesting thought … Satellite companies currently have partnerships with various phone companies to bundle their services. However, the market is getting more and more competitive as cable companies offer competing digital phone service. DISH Network may simply be positioning itself to offer it’s own telecom service.
Stay tuned … DISH Network is barred from talking about its plans until after April 3rd. Here at DISH Deals Direct, we can’t wait to see what the company has up its sleeve!
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