AT&T, DIRECTV and DISH: The Skinny

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AT&T, DIRECTV and DISH: The Skinny


DIRECTV scored a coup late Friday … the DBS company announced that AT&T will market and sell the satellite TV service as a co-branded offering after Jan. 31, 2009.

The relationship between the companies will take effect after the expiration of AT&T's current agreement with DISH Network, AT&T confirmed in a statement. Earlier this year, DISH disclosed that AT&T would terminate the exclusive sales and marketing agreement between the companies. The No. 2 DBS company reported last week that the deal had been extended by a month, to Jan. 31.

DISH didn't have much to say about the DIRECTV/AT&T deal. In a statement, DISH said it has "enjoyed a good partnership with AT&T over the past several years. We look forward to a healthy competition with their U-verse product and DIRECTV."

And while U-verse TV from AT&T is a video competitor to DIRECTV, AT&T said the satellite TV product will become an integral part of the AT&T Advanced TV video portfolio, alongside the telco's IPTV offering.

Nonetheless, AT&T is quite a catch for DIRECTV, given that the DBS giant has relationships with the other big telcos, Verizon and Qwest.
 
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