Can -- physically, sure. Can -- economically -- not a chance. Then, there's the issue of them not having the orbital slots. It must be fun in fantasy-land, where everything that practical people says is impossible is arguably possible. Don't believe me? Wait and see -- and Charlie Ergen -- in the DirecTV merger proposal -- told me everything I need to know about this. He said that his company wouldn't have a future without the merger. I'm sure you must have better information than he. John Willkie -----Original Message----- From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Craig Birkmaier Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 5:25 AM To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [opendtv] Re: I Want My HDTV At 5:14 PM -0700 9/21/04, John Willkie wrote: >They're worse than cable, but then, EchoStar (which needed the DirecTV >merger to have a hope of sending HDTV network streams to viewers) are now >out of options: DirecTV's plans to do local-into-local HDTV (or something >very close to it) a few years down the road seals their fate. > >Maybe they could merge with Voom? > Uhhhh. John... DISH can do exactly what DirecTV is doing. Spot beam satellites are going to be essential if DBS is going to continue to eat into cable market share. Last I looked, DISH is growing faster than DirecTV. Not sure why you think that they are so vulnerable... Regards Craig ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.