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The Year That Was 2008: SkyREPORT's Top 10
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The Year That Was 2008: SkyREPORT's Top 10
There were subscriber gains … and losses. There were mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs and new partnerships. There were tumultuous times on Wall Street. There were satellite launches. There were court dates.
That's a wrap of what happened within the satellite business in 2008. Below is SkyREPORT's "Top 10" take on the year:
10) Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction writer best known for developing the early concept of geostationary satellites, passed away in March. He was 90.
9) The satellite TV industry started 2008 with a bang from one company. Charlie Ergen's business split into two separate entities - DISH Network (containing the DBS service) and EchoStar (which controls satellite capacity and technology assets such as Sling Media).
8) DIRECTV continued to amaze observers both in the multiplatform business and on Wall Street with its ongoing HDTV successes. While some subscriber growth has slowed for the DBS powerhouse, DIRECTV still managed to net 560,000 new customers during the first nine months of 2008, for a total of 17.32 million.
7) It was a mixed bag in terms of satellite launches this year. AMC-14, the SES AMERICOM satellite that DISH had planned to utilize for HD expansion, failed to reach its proper orbit during a launch attempt in March. Nonetheless, the company saw the successful launch of its EchoStar XI satellite in July and the Ciel 2 bird in December, a satellite that will be leased to DISH by Canada's Ciel Satellite Group. Also, in March, the DIRECTV 11 satellite was successfully lofted into space for the No. 1 DBS provider.
6) AT&T rocked the small dish world when the telco confirmed it would drop DISH as its sole DBS sales and marketing partner at the end of January 2009. The telco giant then announced it would partner exclusively with DIRECTV for the sales effort.
5) It was a tough year for all multiplatform stocks, and satellite companies were not spared from the massive Wall Street carnage. The share price for the combined Sirius XM entity has recently hovered around 12 cents. DISH stock tumbled to a 52-week low of $8.34, while shares in EchoStar have traded as low as $12.97. Escaping some (but not all) of the punishment was DIRECTV, which has somewhat bounced back from a 52-week low of $17.70. In 2009, can the satellite business withstand not only the financial markets' rollercoaster, but also a souring economy?
4) In a first for the satellite TV industry, DISH Network posted a loss of subscribers, both in the second quarter (a 25,000 net loss) and in the third quarter (a net 10,000 customer loss). At the end of 3Q, DISH had 13.78 million subscribers.
3) In February, and after about 14 months of waiting, regulators formally cleared Liberty Media's acquisition of a controlling stake in DIRECTV. The stake, purchased from News Corp., has since grown to about 52 percent, and is poised to become the focal point of Liberty's future plans for Liberty Entertainment.
2) Again this year, DISH spent a lot of time in courtrooms. Some of the efforts didn't quite work out for the No. 2 DBS platform. DISH was denied a chance to take its case with TiVo to the Supreme Court, and was compelled to pay more than $104 million to the DVR pioneer. Both sides are preparing for a February court date on outstanding matters tied to their ongoing litigation. DISH also faced off with NDS in California federal court, but managed to win only a small judgment in a case that alleged tampering with DISH's conditional access system. DISH also confronted VOOM in court after the DBS service dropped the programmer's HD channels from its lineup.
1) Despite fierce objections from consumer advocates, lawmakers and some satellite radio customers, the merger between Sirius and XM was approved by regulators in late July, more than 17 months after the companies first proposed the combination. With the two platforms consolidated, observers will watch to see if Sirius XM can survive the harsh economic climate, especially given that car sales are plummeting, consumer spending is tightening and other forms of audio entertainment are challenging the new satellite radio business model.
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The Year That Was 2008: SkyREPORT's Top 10
There were subscriber gains … and losses. There were mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs and new partnerships. There were tumultuous times on Wall Street. There were satellite launches. There were court dates.
That's a wrap of what happened within the satellite business in 2008. Below is SkyREPORT's "Top 10" take on the year:
10) Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction writer best known for developing the early concept of geostationary satellites, passed away in March. He was 90.
9) The satellite TV industry started 2008 with a bang from one company. Charlie Ergen's business split into two separate entities - DISH Network (containing the DBS service) and EchoStar (which controls satellite capacity and technology assets such as Sling Media).
8) DIRECTV continued to amaze observers both in the multiplatform business and on Wall Street with its ongoing HDTV successes. While some subscriber growth has slowed for the DBS powerhouse, DIRECTV still managed to net 560,000 new customers during the first nine months of 2008, for a total of 17.32 million.
7) It was a mixed bag in terms of satellite launches this year. AMC-14, the SES AMERICOM satellite that DISH had planned to utilize for HD expansion, failed to reach its proper orbit during a launch attempt in March. Nonetheless, the company saw the successful launch of its EchoStar XI satellite in July and the Ciel 2 bird in December, a satellite that will be leased to DISH by Canada's Ciel Satellite Group. Also, in March, the DIRECTV 11 satellite was successfully lofted into space for the No. 1 DBS provider.
6) AT&T rocked the small dish world when the telco confirmed it would drop DISH as its sole DBS sales and marketing partner at the end of January 2009. The telco giant then announced it would partner exclusively with DIRECTV for the sales effort.
5) It was a tough year for all multiplatform stocks, and satellite companies were not spared from the massive Wall Street carnage. The share price for the combined Sirius XM entity has recently hovered around 12 cents. DISH stock tumbled to a 52-week low of $8.34, while shares in EchoStar have traded as low as $12.97. Escaping some (but not all) of the punishment was DIRECTV, which has somewhat bounced back from a 52-week low of $17.70. In 2009, can the satellite business withstand not only the financial markets' rollercoaster, but also a souring economy?
4) In a first for the satellite TV industry, DISH Network posted a loss of subscribers, both in the second quarter (a 25,000 net loss) and in the third quarter (a net 10,000 customer loss). At the end of 3Q, DISH had 13.78 million subscribers.
3) In February, and after about 14 months of waiting, regulators formally cleared Liberty Media's acquisition of a controlling stake in DIRECTV. The stake, purchased from News Corp., has since grown to about 52 percent, and is poised to become the focal point of Liberty's future plans for Liberty Entertainment.
2) Again this year, DISH spent a lot of time in courtrooms. Some of the efforts didn't quite work out for the No. 2 DBS platform. DISH was denied a chance to take its case with TiVo to the Supreme Court, and was compelled to pay more than $104 million to the DVR pioneer. Both sides are preparing for a February court date on outstanding matters tied to their ongoing litigation. DISH also faced off with NDS in California federal court, but managed to win only a small judgment in a case that alleged tampering with DISH's conditional access system. DISH also confronted VOOM in court after the DBS service dropped the programmer's HD channels from its lineup.
1) Despite fierce objections from consumer advocates, lawmakers and some satellite radio customers, the merger between Sirius and XM was approved by regulators in late July, more than 17 months after the companies first proposed the combination. With the two platforms consolidated, observers will watch to see if Sirius XM can survive the harsh economic climate, especially given that car sales are plummeting, consumer spending is tightening and other forms of audio entertainment are challenging the new satellite radio business model.