Verizon (VZ) Goes After DirecTV (DTV) And Echostar (DISH)
August 8, 2007 by Douglas A. McIntyreIn a recent survey reported on at GigaOm, thirty-four towns were tracked for TV and broadband customer activity in the initial 90 days that Verizon’s (VZ) fiber optics product was available.
Verizon picked up almost 12,000 new customers over the period. Just over 5,000 came from Comcast (CMCSA), but that was only about 2% of its base in the regions.
Over 4,500 of Verizon’s new subscribers came from DirecTV (DTV) and EchoStar (DISH). That was an extremely high 40% of their total bases.
It is not really surprising. Verizon’s product offers voice, broadband, and digital TV. Comcast has a similar product. But, satellite TV cannot package broadband or phone service as part of its service.
Perhaps the markets are already beginning to sense the vulnerability of sat TV. Over the last three months, Verizon shares are up 6%. Shares in Comcast are down about 2%. But DTV’s stock is off 14% and DISH is down closer to 18%.
The satellite TV stocks may have seen their best days.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
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