Dish Network can't catch a break

When you think of Sprint/ Nextel you see landlines, smart phones, and Internet service for tablets and PC’s. When you think of Dish network you see television on demand at home via satellite or away from home with use of the dish network sling and mobile app (in an area with high speed wifi of course). 

Now you may be thinking of that old Captain Planet saying “with their powers combined!” they could be something even greater. The number three Satellite/ Cable TV provider in the nation joining up with the number three mobile service provider; that idea was on its way of becoming reality, but Sprint Nextel ended conversation with Dish Network over the sale of the wireless company June 10. Sprint Nextel now supports a second bid by Softbank, a telecommunications and internet corporation in Japan.

Softbank first bid was $20.1 billion and now is $21.6 billion including $16.6 billion of it being cash (money talks). The deal with Sprint/ Nextel would give Softbank a 78% stake in the company.

The $25.5 billion dollar buyout by Dish Network was going to create the only U.S. company having a convenient and “fully integrated nationwide bundle of in and out of home video, broadband and voice service”.

Charlie Ergen Co-founder of what is now Dish Network had and still has the option to counteroffer till June 18, but Ergen stated Dish would analyze the Softbank bid and consider their strategic options(a big not likely).

With a chance to revamp the two companies into number one status, Ergen should’ve done everything he could to get the sale. Mobile technology is the wave of the future, and if Dish is the main provider of convenient usage, the masses will eventually flock to them. The problem with sprint is that their network is lacking causing bad and limited connectivity; the problem with Dish is too many technical difficulties and horrible customer service. (Dish has the satellite if you got the towers and toys). If Dish doesn’t pick up the ball before its too late, then what a waste.

Hopefully Softbank will at least bring sprint back to their previous status. The only thing sprint has going for them now is their “simply everything plan”, which isn’t as appealing as when first launched.

Dish Network has been having nothing but bad luck, losing 166,000 subscribers. Dish was not going to lose in the industry wars, so they played a trump card that should not of been played, they introduced the “Hopper”, which allowed customers to watch their television programming without commercial interruption. The device brought back all their lost subscribers plus 86,000. Good idea? NO! The film and television industry took this as an attack and all the major networks filed lawsuits against Ergen, because advertisement is they livelihood. One way or another, ads are shown which produce the revenue for networks.

So Ergen dealt his hand at the hopper and now he’s supposedly passing up on Sprint. They should just call him “bad luck chuck” because it seems like every decision never works out the way intended or maybe it is…