Conference vmszoo::consumer

> Surprise Surprise .... NOT :-)  Prior to 12/31/96 all ads
> I saw showed 12/31/96 as the last date for the DirectTV
> $200 rebate.  Now it appears it's been extended to 1/31/97.
> Wonder if on 2/1/97 they will extend it again and again and again ....

	This is getting to be a real joke.  I just noticed in
	today's flyers reading the fine print that this offer
	has now been extended til 2/28/97.

	It's like a perpetual "going out of business" or "yard" sale!

    I think I saw $149.99 for the dish, assuming one buy the $349.99
    programming package in advance.

Yes, it is likely that the DirecTV rebate will continue indefinitely.

People should keep in mind the total net cost.  It isn't "$149" but more like
"$500" once you've paid (in advance) for a year's service.

					Steve

    However, if you are paying $29.95 for you cable service per month, that
    adds upto $349.99 for year!
    
    - Vikas

> Title: I have broadcast only and pay $11.99
>     However, if you are paying $29.95 for you cable service per month, that
>     adds upto $349.99 for year!

	But if you get dish service, you still need cable service to get
	local channels (usually including the major networks).  You indicate
	that costs $11.99, or $143.88/year.  Add that to the $350/year
	it costs for dish service, it's the ~ $500 Steve quoted.  Or ~
	$150 more than cable service.

	This is not including the additional upfront costs for dish service
	that you need to pro-rate over the useful life of the hardware
	(I'll guess 3-5 years, though probably less due to the rate the
	technology changes).

	BTW, they also charge you an additional programming fee for each
	additional receiver you have hooked up (you'll need at least one
	additional receiver in order to be able to record on your VCR
	while watching something else than what you're recording, plus
	an additional receiver per TV if you want to have family members
	be able to watch something different on each TV).

	Ideally it would be nice if a single dish receiver could decode
	all channels simultaniously and modulate them onto unique
	broadcast freqencies so that you could just stick the dish
	receiver in your basement, and feed your whole house (TV's and
	VCR's) like you do with cable today.

Such a receiver would be very expensive, as you'd need a dedicated tuner and
re-modulator for every channel.

				Steve

>> Surprise Surprise .... NOT :-)  Prior to 12/31/96 all ads
>> I saw showed 12/31/96 as the last date for the DirectTV
>> $200 rebate.  Now it appears it's been extended to 1/31/97.
>> Wonder if on 2/1/97 they will extend it again and again and again ....
> 	This is getting to be a real joke.  I just noticed in
> 	today's flyers reading the fine print that this offer
> 	has now been extended til 2/28/97.
> 
> 	It's like a perpetual "going out of business" or "yard" sale!

	This is now turning into a big joke.  The ads now say ...

	    "Offer valid until 3/31/97 ..."

	they didn't even wait til near the end of the month this time
	to "extend" by one month again the offer.

	Well the DishNetwork stock price has shot up 75% today after
	Rupert Murdock (the guy who created the Fox network) has announced
	plans to either invest in this company or something to make this
	company/dbss a serious competitor to DirectTV and PrimeStar.

	If this Rupert Murdock thing works out (the FCC, SEC, etc may
	block any deal, assuming involvement by Murdock is more than rumor),
	then the DishNetwork has a better chance of being around longer
	term.  Ie. it may remove one of my fears of making a substantial
	$ investment in the hardware to be able to subscribe to DishNetwork.

	Interesting to look at .22 just 3 1/2 months ago this stock was
	then at around 24.

Symbol: DISH (ECHOSTAR COMMUN CP CL A)
Last Trade: 26 3/4, Change 11 1/2 (75.41%) at Feb 25  4:00:39
Bid & Ask:  26 3/8 & 26 3/4 (spread 3/8)
Low & High: 26 3/8 & 27 1/2 (spread 1 1/8)
52 Week Low & High: 15 & 37 (spread 22)
Volume/# of Trades: 2337800 / 1881 (1242 shares/trade)

                      Satellite TV Competition Grows

              AP Online, Tuesday, February 25, 1997 at 16:31

    By FARRELL KRAMER
    AP Business Writer
      NEW YORK (AP) - It's not exactly a shootout at the OK Corral,
    but competition for the heart and minds - not to mention eyeballs -
    of the nation's TV viewers is becoming a Wild West affair.
      The combination of EchoStar Communications with ASkyB, the
    nascent satellite television business of Rupert Murdoch's News
    Corp., creates a deep-pocketed No. 3 competitor to industry leaders
    DirecTV and PrimeStar. It's already being referred to as ``Death
    Star.''
      Murdoch's creation comes as cable companies work to launch
    digital cable so they can offer more channels and better sound and
    picture quality. Broadcasters, too, plan to go digital.
      All told, hard-core channel surfers and occasional viewers can
    expect more viewing choices than ever before as providers fight it
    out in the new competitive frontier. With that, however, comes a
    complex assortment of products and some difficult decisions. TV has
    become high-tech, every bit as complicated as buying a computer.
      ``What we have is a great deal of opportunity for the consumer,
    but at the same time a lot of confusion,'' said Jimmy Schaeffler, a
    satellite analyst at The Carmel Group, a media research firm.
      The term ``confusion'' is almost an understatement.
      Today, for example, consumers can buy high-powered satellite
    service from EchoStar and DirecTV, or medium-powered service from
    PrimeStar. (A high-powered version is coming.)
      EchoStar and DirecTV customers generally need to buy their own
    dishes and other hardware, absorb installation costs and most often
    pay for the first year of programming up-front.
      PrimeStar provides the hardware, though the cost is worked into
    your bill, and there are installation expenses. The service's
    programming is offered month-to-month.
      All the satellite services use digital signals, with sound and
    picture quality superior to the standard analog signals seen in
    broadcast television and cable. They also provide a lot of
    channels, anywhere from about 100 to the 500 promised by the
    Murdoch and EchoStar deal, the most so far of any satellite
    provider.
      Wall Street clearly read the merger as an orbital victory.
    EchoStar's stock, which trades under the ticker symbol ``DISH,''
    rose about 50 percent on the news Tuesday. News Corp. was up a bit.
      The news was not all rosy for all of TV, though. ``The market is
    treating this as a negative for cable,'' said John Reidy, a media
    analyst at Smith Barney, a brokerage firm. Shares of a number of
    major cable companies like TCI and U S West Media fell off on the
    news.
      With Murdoch and EchoStar saying their new service, to be called
    Sky, will offer local TV programming in some markets - something
    satellite TV has so far been unable to do - investors were worried
    it would cost cable companies subscribers. Satellite users today
    generally need to either plug ``rabbit-ears'' or basic cable into
    their satellite receivers to get local stations on their sets.
      Despite Sky's promised advance, cable has a big lead. Of the
    approximately 100 million U.S. homes that have TV, about 65 million
    have cable. Just 4.5 million are direct-broadcast satellite
    households.
      ``We have been in a period with more choice of programming, and
    the growth of choice will continue,'' said Tom Wolzien, a media
    analyst at the brokerage firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. ``What
    we're moving into now is a choice of distribution systems.''
      It's a bit like deciding whether to buy vegetables at the
    grocer, the vegetable stand or the farm. The costs, quality and
    choice are different at every stop.
      A little comparison shopping: Cable currently does not have the
    same channel capacity as satellite, but providers plan to roll out
    digital cable over the next couple of years. It will then offer
    similar quality and roughly the same channel capacity as PrimeStar
    does today.
      Cable can also offer local programming in all markets and costs
    far less up-front, just a small installation fee. Importantly,
    there is at most a small fee for multi-set homes, a big issue in
    satellite where each TV set needs a separate receiver box and other
    hardware.
      Here's the really confusing part: The broadcast networks are
    working to provide digital broadcast TV, with the high-quality
    digital picture and sound. The digital signal will require new TV
    sets, boxes expected at first to be as much as $1,500 more than
    regular TVs. It's the furthest off of the new technologies.
      Murdoch, who will pay $1 billion for 50 percent of the EchoStar
    as the two companies join, put his desire succinctly. He wants to
    create ``a dynamic and promising new competitive force.''
      The question is, what will that competition produce? Wolzien,
    for one, worries that all sides will end up offering the same mix
    of programming, just through different pipelines. ``If you don't
    get more programming diversity, it's like, `Do you go to one
    grocery store, or another?'''

    Companies or Securities discussed in this article:
       Symbol               Name

    NASDAQ:DISH Echostar Communications Corp
    NYSE:NWS    News Corp Ltd
    AMEX:SBI    Smith Barney Inter Mun Fd Inc

           US FCC likely to have News Corp-Echostar deal role

              Reuters, Tuesday, February 25, 1997 at 17:50

        WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuter) - Federal regulators are likely
    to have a role in determining whether media giant News Corp Ltd
    (AUS:NCP) can buy a 50 percent stake valued at $1 billion in
    EchoStar Communications Corp (NASDAQ:DISH), a government official
    said Tuesday.
        "It's likely they'll need to come to us. We'll have to wait
    to see what they file and how the deal is structured," said an
    official with the Federal Communications Commission who
    requested anonymity.
        The official added that the U.S. Justice Department's
    antitrust division may well choose to scrutinize the
    transaction, which was announced Monday. "I'm sure they also
    will have an interest in this," said the official.
        A Justice Department official was not immediately available
    for comment.
        The FCC could have a toehold in the approval process if
    either EchoStar or News Corp's satellite-TV joint venture
    partner, MCI Communications Corp (NASDAQ:MCIC), transfer their
    satellite TV licenses to a new entity formed by the deal.
        In that case, the FCC must determine whether the license
    transfer is in the public interest.
        The general interest test would give the FCC leeway to look
    at a variety of issues -- such as the impact on competition in
    the direct broadcast satellite market from the number of
    satellite transponders controlled by the new entity.
        "It's a broad standard," the FCC official said of the
    public interest test.
        Industry sources also said it is likely that regulators
    will get involved, given the high profile of the companies
    participating in the transaction.
        "Since it's so high profiled, it's almost inevitable that
    the FCC will be dragged into it somehow," said one analyst.
        What's more, cable-TV operators -- who face a competitive
    threat from satellite TV -- already are crying foul. And it's
    considered unlikely that regulators would totally ignore their
    concerns.
        The Cable Telecommunications Association, an industry trade
    group, issued a statement Tuesday raising concerns about media
    cross-ownership rules.

     Copyright 1997, Reuters News Service

    Companies or Securities discussed in this article:
       Symbol              Name
    AUS:NCP
    NASDAQ:DISH Echostar Communications Corp

	More info on the deal, including some stuff I heard on CNN HN
	last night or this morning that Echostar plans to not just
	supplement cable (which is still needed today to get local
	programming), but to *compete* against cable by offering local
	programming in the top 15 major markets (is Boston in the top 15?).
	It plans to be able to do this by increasing DBS capacity to 500
	TV channels.

	The following Reuters article from this afternoon has some
	good information on the deal, etc......

        Moody's may up Echostar (NASDAQ:DISH), affirms News Corp

             Reuters, Wednesday, February 26, 1997 at 15:01

        (Press release provided by Moody's Investors Service Inc.)
        NEW YORK, Feb 26 - Moody's placed the B2 rating on Dish,
    Ltd.'s $624 million (face amount) of 12-7/8% senior secured
    notes and the Caa rating on EchoStar Satellite Broadcasting's
    $580 million (face amount) of 13-1/8% senior secured notes
    under review for possible upgrade.
        At the same time, Moody's confirmed News Corporation's Baa3
    senior unsecured, Ba2 subordinated, and "ba2" preferred ratings.
        The rating actions follow the announcement that News Corp.
    and MCI Communications will contribute cash, satellites, and
    other assets totaling $1.7 billion in return for a 50% stake in
    EchoStar.
        News Corp. will indirectly own 40% and MCI 10%. News
    Corp.'s American Sky Broadcasting (ASkyB) will contribute
    several key assets, including three high power satellites under
    construction and an uplink facility under construction.
        MCI is indirectly contributing frequencies at an orbital
    slot covering the entire U.S., which it won at an auction
    conducted by the FCC in 1996 for $683 million.
        The cash contribution will total about $500 million.
     EchoStar currently offers up to 200 video and audio channels
    using two high-power satellites of its own in a slot covering
    the entire U.S.
        The company has signed up about 430,000 subscribers since
    starting its service in May 1996, competing aggressively based
    on price.
        In the fall of 1997, EchoStar plans to launch a third
    satellite into an orbital slot covering the eastern U.S. and,
    in the spring of 1998, a fourth satellite into an orbital slot
    covering the western U.S., to offer local TV programming and
    data transmission.
        The combined operation, which will operate under the Sky
    trade name, is expected to have seven satellites in orbit by
    the end of 1998 and be able to offer more than 500 channels,
    including local TV programming in most markets.
        The alliance also improves EchoStar's competitive position
    against DIRECTV and PRIMESTAR Partners, both of which will have
    capacity constraints to offer local TV and data transmission on
    a large scale unless digital compression technology improves
    significantly.
        Despite the capital infusion, EchoStar's capital needs will
    continue to be substantial to complete satellite constructions,
    market the Sky service, pay for programming, and absorb the
    impact of distributing subscriber-based equipment at below
    EchoStar's cost.
        EchoStar's review for upgrade reflects the anticipated
    benefit of the $500 million equity infusion and the strategic
    benefit of substantial new capacity and back-up capabilities
    from the additional satellites, slots, and uplink facility.
         The new capital will allow EchoStar to continue with its
    satellite construction plans and absorb operating losses and
    substantial capital expenditures.
        On the strategic front, assuming spot-beam technology works
    acceptably, the venture will be able to offer local TV
    programming, which removes a major competitive problem with DBS
    compared to cable providers.
        EchoStar will not likely be profitable, on an EBITDA basis,
    for another year or two. Furthermore, there is the risk of
    satellite launch failure for four planned launches, and any
    delays will further exacerbate the timing disadvantage EchoStar
    has against DIRECTV and PRIMESTAR, both of which launched
    digital service in 1994 and have over 4.2 million DBS
    subscribers between them.
        News Corp.'s ratings confirmations reflect the resolution
    of the use of the MCI orbital slot and the acceleration of its
    participation in the U.S. DBS market.
        Previously, Moody's was concerned about ASkyB's late
    entrance to the market, the subtantial capital need, and the
    anticipation of operating losses for several years. The
    combination with EchoStar allows News Corp. immediate entrance
    to the market, effectively eliminates a competitor from the DBS
    field, and allows the venture to share in costs and capital
    needs.
        Furthermore, News Corp. has just announced plans to sell
    assets expected to bring in about $800 million, which will more
    than support the company's $500 million capital contribution.
        The transaction requires FCC and Hart-Scott-Rodino
    authorizations as well as the consents of EchoStar's
    shareholders and bondholders.
        The EchoStar review will focus on the company's revised
    plan, structure, capital needs, and a more thorough assessment
    of the strategic implications of the transaction, including its
    affects on advertising, programming, and equipment
    distribution.
        EchoStar is a high-power DBS provider with about 430,000
    subscribers.
        The company is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado. News
    Corporation, with its headquarters in Sydney, Australia, is a
    major global media company with principle businesses consisting
    of printing and publishing newspapers, motion picture studio
    operations, television broadcasting, magazine publishing, film
    production and distribution, and book publishing.

     Copyright 1997, Reuters News Service

    Companies or Securities discussed in this article:
       Symbol              Name

    NASDAQ:DISH Echostar Communications
                Corp