"With the Malone acquisition, satellite TV gets that much closer to a Denver-only experience,” said Jimmy Schaeffler, senior multichannel TV analyst for the Carmel Group. “Denver goes from being just the cable center to being the multichannel pay-TV center for the U.S. and maybe the world. It’s a very positive thing for the state of Colorado.”
It speaks volumes to Charlie’s mellowing and maturity, both to his selection of Carl and Carl’s acceptance of the presidency,” said Jimmy Schaeffler, senior multichannel analyst for The Carmel Group.
“It’s a good thing for both men and the company,” he said. “Where Charlie can go out and create the strategies, Carl can bring the common sense and some of the financial backing to make it happen.”
"Rupert saying he’s not happy with DirecTV is very telling and maybe is important, long term, to the status of DirecTV,” said Jimmy Schaeffler, senior multichannel analyst for The Carmel Group.
“This would seem to make a lot of sense. Maybe Liberty would transfer a large percent, but not all, of their stock over to DirecTV but still keep an interest in News Corp.,” Schaeffler said. “This would take some stress off of News Corp.”
"This is not a good thing. EchoStar already has 1 1/2 counts against it in this TiVo case,” said Jimmy Schaeffler, senior multichannel TV analyst for The Carmel Group, who worked with TiVo on the case. “There’s a lot on the line. TiVo wants to put pressure on EchoStar to settle the case.”
"It’s a general indicator of what will end up when all is said and done with the auction,” said Jimmy Schaeffler, senior multichannel analyst for the Carmel Group. “Nobody else is standing in satellite’s shoes. This is their future.”
EchoStar co-founder and chairman Charlie Ergen is “extremely worried about the broadband play,” said Carmel Group multichannel TV analyst Jimmy Schaeffler. “Come Aug. 9, they’re going to be all over that bidding table. Echo Star and DirecTV have to have a bundle that they control.”
"It’s too complex, too close on the heels of what went down (four) years ago,” said Jimmy Schaeffler, senior multichannel analyst for the Carmel Group.
"The buzz is that there’s an offer out on EchoStar from (rival) DirecTV,” said Kaufman Bros. analyst Todd Mitchell. Despite an alliance with telecommunications giant AT&T, EchoStar needs a suite of broadband services it can control, says Jimmy Schaeffler, senior multichannel analyst for The Carmel Group.
"We are an instant, on-demand nation. Anything beyond that starts causing problems and will be a competitive disadvantage,” said Jimmy Schaeffler, senior multichannel-TV analyst for the Carmel Group. “It’s a short-term solution (for AT&T). In two years, AT&T will come back and say they can do this without EchoStar.”
"EchoStar really knows its niche audiences. Comcast does not. ... They should be vigorously pursuing and following (EchoStar’s) lead,” said Jimmy Schaeffler, senior multichannel TV analyst for The Carmel Group.
But Schaeffler says consumers with conservative values shouldn’t be ignored, and he predicts that family packages will become “an important part of American multichannel viewing in a matter of years.”
“It’s early in the game and people haven’t been educated to the real value of the family package,” he said. “When people start going over to other homes and start talking about the low cost ... things are going to change.”
"The question is, do they partner with those new forms of content or those new providers? Or do they sit on their hands and become less and less relevant,” said Jimmy Schaeffler, an analyst with The Carmel Group, a market research firm.
