Hasta La Gadget!

While Dish Network’s $25.5 billion bid for Sprint continues to wave in the breeze, the company has reported its earnings for the first quarter. Net subscriber growth only totaled 36,000 compared to 104,000 in the same period last year, as subscriber churn rose due to a price hike earlier this year. Its profits were lower in Q1 2013 than 2012 partially due to Blockbuster-related drops and a boost received last year from its DBSD purchase. (We’re guessing higher content costs for things like AMC didn’t help either.) A growing percentage of the 654,000 new customers it added got Hopper DVRs, which also raised costs a bit for the new set-top boxes and all those TV advertisements its been running. Even as it waits to add some terrestrial LTE to its “Seinfeld” wireless data strategy, the dishNET satellite broadband service added 66,000 customers in the quarter, up from from just 6,000 new customers in Q1 2012. We’ll have to wait for the earnings call at noon to see if CEO Charlie Ergen has anything else to say about its battle with Softbank to buy Sprint, but all of the data is in the press release and slide below.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Dish Network Q1 2013 investor summary (PDF), Q1 Earnings

Despite bidding competition from Dish, Softbank’s founder, Masayoshi Son, has told Reuters that he sees no need to adjust his company’s offer for Sprint. In fact, he’s even seen support from Intel CEO Paul Otellini, who stated in a letter to the FCC last week that a third competitive national carrier is “very compelling.”

During the company’s financial results today, Softbank’s Son went on the attack, spending a big chunk of the presentation pitching what his company would offer over its rival’s bid. He kicked off by saying that Dish’s offer (and comparisons) was “illusory” and how the Japanese carrier’s offer had a 21 percent premium over its rival’s, along with a swifter turnaround: two months compared to a year. Son also said that his company’s offer would sidestep the difficulties in combining spectrum in the US, as Softbank doesn’t currently hold any US wireless spectrum at the moment. The CEO added: “If our deal doesn’t go through with Sprint… the carrier won’t have the cash to follow through with their network vision [this year].”

Earlier in the earnings event, Son said that his company’s healthy native position was “just a stepping stone”, and that he’s now aiming for the number one spot in mobile internet globally — Sprint appears to be a big part of those plans.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sprint

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Source: @masason (Twitter)

We reported yesterday that Dish could be interested in making a bid on Sprint worth $25.5 billion. If the deal was formalized, Sprint would obviously have to entertain this new offer and see what Softbank has to offer them instead. For those wondering what Softbank had to say to Dish’s offer, it seems that they are relatively unfazed by the seemingly more generous offer. Softbank called Dish’s offer “highly conditional” and that they don’t expect it to get in the way and are still on track with completing their deal with Sprint this coming summer.

In a statement made by Softbank, here’s what they had to say, “Softbank believes that the agreed terms of our transaction with Sprint offer Sprint shareholders superior short- and long-term benefits to Dish’s highly conditional preliminary proposal […] The Softbank-Sprint transaction is in the advanced stages of receiving the necessary approvals, and we expect to consummate the transaction on July 1, 2013.”

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As you guys have heard, Japanese carrier Softbank is currently in the process of purchasing a 70% stake in one of the four major US carriers, Sprint. While the deal has yet to be concluded and approved by all the regulatory bodies involved, word on the street has it that US satellite television company, Dish, might want a piece of Sprint as well and has made a counter-offer of their own. According to the Financial Times, Dish has reportedly offered Sprint’s shareholders $7 in cash, which is higher than $4.03 which is what Softbank is offering, and is also claiming that their offer of cash plus shares is worth 13% more than what Softbank is proposing, ultimately making their offer worth $25.5 billion. Assuming that the bid is formalized, we guess it’s back to Sprint’s board of directors to decide if Softbank will be willing  to match Dish’s offer, and if the other advantages associated with Dish will outweigh that of Softbank.

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In the battle for Sprint’s heart, Dish Network always seemed to be stuck in the “friend zone”. That’s not the case anymore, however, now that Dish has quietly lobbed an informal $25.5 billion offer to purchase the carrier. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that after Dish was knocked-back in its attempts to buy Clearwire, the satellite TV company scrounged together the cash to beat Softbank’s multi billion dollar deal. If the bid is made formal, then Sprint’s board will have to decide if Softbank’s massive size and buckets of cash can be trumped by Dish’s spectrum reserves, pay-TV business and ability to skip commercials in a breeze.

Update: Dish clarified on a conference call that its bid for Clearwire is still on the table for the company to consider even if it was turned down, and that the Sprint offer is not contingent on the carrier closing out its Clearwire purchase. Should the deal go through, the plan is target underserved and rural customers, rather than competing with inner-city fiber-based services. Softbank may find itself beaten by the higher offer, but if Dish succeeds, the Japanese company would still hold around 5% of Sprint’s shares.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Wireless, HD, Mobile, Sprint

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Via: The Wall Street Journal

Source: Dish