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Clearwire receives unsolicited offer from DISH


JohnHovah

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I had the same question, but the deal announcement does not specify. I would have to guess BRS, not EBS. Do not pay billions to acquire only leased spectrum. And 24% would be reasonably close to the percentage of Clearwire's BRS holdings out of its total BRS/EBS bandwidth.

 

AJ

 

Yes, but the spectrum price is separate from the bid for the outstanding shares. I have no seen how many MHz they are proposing to buy.

 

and this would strip a significant amount of value from Clearwire essentially making them worthless screwing creditors and Sprint. Not going to happen. This proposal to make an offer (not even an offer) is going nowhere it appears that its sole purpose is to cause Sprint a headache and its going to backfire if they want Sprint to host their spectrum because at this point I think Dish needs Sprint more than Sprint needs 4 separate bands for LTE.

 

if it is BRS, Dish is serious, and Sprint goes along and sells than Dish just got the good part of Clearwire for 7 Billion and the creditors are suing, this leaves 5-7 Billion in debt with only leased spectrum to back it up.

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Ergen needs to worry about his company (employee satisfaction, growth, competition from direct) and the bridges he is burning. The services he sells now are antiquated ...as brilliant of an idea as it is to get into the mobile broadband market with better spectrum resources, as we all know, he's projected a deployment schedule that puts him entering a somewhat matured LTE market. ATT's WCS holdings should begin to be in use by then ....what's to stop them from using that spectrum for its uverse services? Is Ergen confident that the cash flow from competitively priced services in the later part of this decade will cover the investment costs he has incurred? And who's to say one of the carriers won't have teamed up with a media company to offer pay television services by then? I have long thought that packaging, say, 20-50 basic television channels together with a streaming service like Hulu and selling it in a bundle would be a huge draw for a company that had the means to deliver it.

 

I think I just put Ergen on the same paddle-less raft as I keep Randall Stephenson on. CEO death match anyone? Oh how I miss claymation

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I have long advocated using the BRS/EBS spectrum for fixed broadband/OTT video. Plenty of bandwidth for that and you don't have to worry abt handsets. That would definitely put the squeeze on Dish. Maybe he's trying to eliminate a potential competitor?

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Ergen needs to worry about his company (employee satisfaction, growth, competition from direct) and the bridges he is burning. The services he sells now are antiquated ...as brilliant of an idea as it is to get into the mobile broadband market with better spectrum resources, as we all know, he's projected a deployment schedule that puts him entering a somewhat matured LTE market. ATT's WCS holdings should begin to be in use by then ....what's to stop them from using that spectrum for its uverse services? Is Ergen confident that the cash flow from competitively priced services in the later part of this decade will cover the investment costs he has incurred? And who's to say one of the carriers won't have teamed up with a media company to offer pay television services by then? I have long thought that packaging, say, 20-50 basic television channels together with a streaming service like Hulu and selling it in a bundle would be a huge draw for a company that had the means to deliver it.

 

I think I just put Ergen on the same paddle-less raft as I keep Randall Stephenson on. CEO death match anyone? Oh how I miss claymation

 

Sorry, are you serious? Read the history of Ergen. He is Dish. He founded dish, he owns dish, he controls dish, and doesn't give two ($%# what anyone thinks. He did it his way, and ended up being extremely successful. Not too many self-made billionaires out there.

 

You may not like his methods, but you have to admire what he has been able to accomplish.

 

Randall Stephenson and Charlie Ergen are not even on the same planet.

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Interesting take on this by Tim Farrar:

 

http://blog.tmfassociates.com

 

Basically, he's saying that Ergen is doing this to piss off Sprint. Should Sprint launch a bid to acquire Dish? Maybe merge with DirectTV? Could Sprint be playing tough so that they can get a swap of AWS-4 for BRS+cash?

 

I have been hearing a lot of chatter that Sprint/Softbank is studying whether to launch a bid for TMobile/Metro after the Sprint/Softbank merger closes. How does this play with those plans?

Edited by bigsnake49
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Sorry' date=' are you serious? Read the history of Ergen. He is Dish. He founded dish, he owns dish, he controls dish, and doesn't give two (%# what anyone thinks. He did it his way, and ended up being extremely successful. Not too many self-made billionaires out there.

 

You may not like his methods, but you have to admire what he has been able to accomplish.

 

Randall Stephenson and Charlie Ergen are not even on the same planet.[/quote']

 

Oh I admire his ingenuity and entrepreneurial past. You are right, he goes after what he wants and doesnt give a damn what anyone else thinks.

 

As to the future success of his company, only time will tell. Good ideas dont always, however, become wildly profitable.

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Oh I admire his ingenuity and entrepreneurial past.

 

Practically guaranteed, anyone worth a billion dollars has stepped on quite a few heads and sold out countless folks on the way up. Is that really worthy of admiration? A "camel" and an "eye of a needle" come to mind.

 

AJ

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I've been down to 100 shares of clwr, I had planned to leave until the bitter end, but ~$3.15 is looking pretty tempting to close out and re-invest it back into sprint while it's dipping

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I've been down to 100 shares of clwr, I had planned to leave until the bitter end, but ~$3.15 is looking pretty tempting to close out and re-invest it back into sprint while it's dipping

 

sell sell sell

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Practically guaranteed, anyone worth a billion dollars has stepped on quite a few heads and sold out countless folks on the way up. Is that really worthy of admiration? A "camel" and an "eye of a needle" come to mind.

 

AJ

 

I mean, look at Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. Who did Warren Buffett step on/sell out?

 

Not sure what Charlie had to do to start his company from nothing and build it into a 16.6 billion dollar company, making himself rich in the process but... I'd rather see a self-made billionaire that is a douche vs. a billionaire that comes from money that's a douche. At least one of them worked for it. Considering I see lots of a-holes everywhere that are not billionaires...

 

Either way, he provides a service that people want at a reasonable price. He saved many people a lot of money - he turned the TV industry upsidedown. To me, that's impressive... because cable co's love their monopoly.

 

If you hate the cable monopolies, Charlie should be your hero.

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If you hate the cable monopolies, Charlie should be your hero.

 

Conceded, but "hero" is a bit strong. Did you catch the post about Dish being one of the worst places to work? I believe that an employer has a responsibility to his/her employees. It is not all about the "job creator's" megalomaniacal need to make money and dominate. As for Ergen, if a psychologist worked up a profile on him, chances are that he could be classified as a sociopath (as could many others of his type).

 

AJ

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I mean, look at Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. Who did Warren Buffett step on/sell out?

 

I did say "practically guaranteed," as that leaves room for exceptions. But I would certainly not hold up Bill Gates as a shining example unless you think that all is fair in love, war, and business. Do you know what Bill Gates did to Gary Kildall?

 

AJ

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I did say "practically guaranteed," as that leaves room for exceptions. But I would certainly not hold up Bill Gates as a shining example unless you think that all is fair in love, war, and business. Do you know what Bill Gates did to Gary Kildall?

 

AJ

 

Agreed on Bill - Bill did do some pretty ruthless things back in the day however I've expunged his record based on who he eventually became and what he has and is doing with his wealth. B&M gates Foundation is amazing and the fact that he isn't turning his kids into mini billionaires is also impressive.

 

 

Conceded, but "hero" is a bit strong. Did you catch the post about Dish being one of the worst places to work? I believe that an employer has a responsibility to his/her employees. It is not all about the "job creator's" megalomaniacal need to make money and dominate. As for Ergen, if a psychologist worked up a profile on him, chances are that he could be classified as a sociopath (as could many others of his type).

 

AJ

 

He goes against convention - for better or worse. It would be interesting to see how much more profitable the company would be if he had happy employees.

 

However, other companies that are "best places to work" don't really ooze corporate responsibility.

 

It's an interesting case study, that's for sure. We could discuss at length the positives/negatives - it would be a good conversation. I personally view that happy employees = more productive which = more profitable company = good for everyone.

 

 

  • Comcast made the Philadelphia Business Journal’s "Best Places to Work List for Extra-Large Employers." Comcast ranked No. 1 and received the Gold Honor.

 

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — For the tenth consecutive year, Verizon Wireless is being recognized as one of the top workplaces for information technology (IT) professionals. This year, Verizon Wireless places sixth on IDG’s Computerworld “2012 Best Places to Work in IT” list and is once again the highest ranked wireless provider.

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...and what he has and is doing with his wealth. B&M gates Foundation is amazing and the fact that he isn't turning his kids into mini billionaires is also impressive.

 

Absolutely, that much is true.

 

AJ

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Conceded, but "hero" is a bit strong. Did you catch the post about Dish being one of the worst places to work? I believe that an employer has a responsibility to his/her employees. It is not all about the "job creator's" megalomaniacal need to make money and dominate. As for Ergen, if a psychologist worked up a profile on him, chances are that he could be classified as a sociopath (as could many others of his type).

 

AJ

 

 

Oh no no no, us real sociopaths have revoked his birth rite.

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Does this mean that Sprint and Dish are actually talking to each about a network sharing agreement but both companies don't see eye to eye on the terms? I honestly dont believe that Dish has any true intentions about making a serious bid for Clearwire. If anything Dish is just trying to punk Sprint for having to shift 5 MHz to account to avoid H block interference and wants more favorable terms. Time will only tell.

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Does this mean that Sprint and Dish are actually talking to each about a network sharing agreement but both companies don't see eye to eye on the terms? I honestly dont believe that Dish has any true intentions about making a serious bid for Clearwire. If anything Dish is just trying to punk Sprint for having to shift 5 MHz to account to avoid H block interference and wants more favorable terms. Time will only tell.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head. Since Softbank started pumping some money into Sprint, Sprint does not desperately need hosting deals to help with its LTE deployment costs. So Sprint is playing hard to get. Plus if Sprint acquires Clearwire, they don't really need Dish's spectrum or the capacity, so Dish does not have a buyer for their product. AT&T, between getting WCS approved and acquiring lower 700MHz B licenses from Verizon and other sundry owners have no immediate need for spectrum. Verizon also has no need for spectrum and neither does the Metro/T-Mobile consortium. The market is getting saturated and does not really need another entrant.

 

So, again, what does Dish do. They paid almost $4B for the spectrum and they will probably need another $4-5B to develop it even if somebody else hosts it with no real market or demand for the bandwidth. Sprint or any other co-host does not really want to make it easy for yet another competitor. Dish is really stuck between a rock and a hard place and wants somebody to bail them out. The only one that's left to co-host their spectrum is Clearwire and Sprint has controlling interest.

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I think you hit the nail on the head. Since Softbank started pumping some money into Sprint, Sprint does not desperately need hosting deals to help with its LTE deployment costs. So Sprint is playing hard to get. Plus if Sprint acquires Clearwire, they don't really need Dish's spectrum or the capacity, so Dish does not have a buyer for their product. AT&T, between getting WCS approved and acquiring lower 700MHz B licenses from Verizon and other sundry owners have no immediate need for spectrum. Verizon also has no need for spectrum and neither does the Metro/T-Mobile consortium. The market is getting saturated and does not really need another entrant.

 

So, again, what does Dish do. They paid almost $4B for the spectrum and they will probably need another $4-5B to develop it even if somebody else hosts it with no real market or demand for the bandwidth. Sprint or any other co-host does not really want to make it easy for yet another competitor. Dish is really stuck between a rock and a hard place and wants somebody to bail them out. The only one that's left to co-host their spectrum is Clearwire and Sprint has controlling interest.

 

Well said. :tu:

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

 

 

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If anything Dish is just trying to punk Sprint for having to shift 5 MHz to account to avoid H block interference and wants more favorable terms.

 

To be clear, Dish's S-band converted to AWS-4 spectrum has not been shifted up 5 MHz. The FCC considered that proposal but did not adopt it.

 

AJ

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To be clear, Dish's S-band converted to AWS-4 spectrum has not been shifted up 5 MHz. The FCC considered that proposal but did not adopt it.

 

AJ

 

What was the outcome then?

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To be clear, Dish's S-band converted to AWS-4 spectrum has not been shifted up 5 MHz. The FCC considered that proposal but did not adopt it.

 

AJ

 

AJ,

This Spectrum could be hosted by Sprint or somebody else. If Sprint were to be the host, is there any way that this might eliminate some of the issues with the Spectrum? Here is what I am thinking about it -- With any data service, usually you need much more download capability than you need for upload. Is there some way that Sprint could set something up that used the Dish frequencies to mostly transmit to cell phones/tablets while not using much of the bandwidth for receiving from Cell phones???

Video distribution comes to my mind.

 

If Sprint had TOTAL control of the Spectrum, & they were willing to possibly get a waiver from the FCC to do something unique with the spectrum, could they make better usage of it than anybody else??

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What was the outcome then?

 

The lowest 5 MHz (2000-2005 MHz) of Dish's AWS-4 uplink is subject to reduced power limits compared to the other 15 MHz of its uplink.

 

AJ

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