“Sometimes you can learn as much about a merger from who isn’t bidding, as you can from who is,” Lee Brodie reports for CNBC. “That may well be the takeaway from AT&T’s offer to buy DirectTV. ‘Why aren’t others bidding for it?’ Jim Cramer mused.”
“As a subscriber, the ‘Mad Money’ host is none too impressed with the DirectTV service. ‘I would disconnect DirectTV in a heartbeat if it weren’t for the football package,’ Cramer said candidly,” Brodie reports. “‘There is simply no other reason I would ever take this monstrosity of a network with a dish that goes down on every storm and one that has disconnected me endlessly for no good reason,’ Cramer said.”
“In fact Cramer noted that the NFL package is so important for business that ‘AT&T can walk away from this deal if Direct TV loses the NFL to another network,'” Brodie reports. “‘Believe me, if this satellite technology were at all up to snuff Apple, Google and Facebook would all be bidding for it,’ Cramer insisted.
But they’re not.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If the NFL is the only thing valuable about Direct TV, then why not go directly to the NFL and get the rights?
Perhaps Cook should consider bidding for and winning NFL Sunday Ticket away from Direct TV, buying rights to Premiere League and La Liga games, etc. and making them Apple TV exclusives. Go directly to the sports leagues with boatlods of cash. Maybe that’ll grease the wheels [with other content gatekeepers]. It’ll certainly move a bunch of Apple TV boxes around the world in short order.
If Apple bid and won for DirecTV, they could actually do something good and innovative with it, like distributing iTunes content and software updates, along with all of the video possibilities. AppleTV service could be built into every DirecTV receiver. It would become a valuable service for Apple customers in rural areas that are currently receiving substandard wireline broadband service from AT&T, etc.
DirectTV is North America. Apple is Worldwide. They’re not going to drop a huge pile o’ dough on something that isn’t.
Buying ATT well after the DirectTV acquisition could have some appeal. Only time will tell.
I hope not. Diversification into areas of NON-expertise are typical of POORLY managed companies with POOR consequences. Been there, seen that, not fun.
Apple remains smarter than that. 😀
nonsense
That was supposed to be a rebuttal?
QED win for me! Like I care about winning. Obviously, I care about informing people, except of course bothering to inform stumps like you.
Agreed ‘nonsense’ is not an argument and fundamentally your argument in this case is valid as far as I can see it.
I thought the future is IPTV, not sat tv. A lot of people still can’t install a dish to get this service, and many don’t want to. IPTV just needs a cable line or a great wireless service.
ATT already has verse. maybe they will be kicking all those satellites toward the sun in the future?
Why aren’t others bidding for it?
A) DirectTV has a reputation as lousy. It started out with cruddy resolution compared to Dish Network. Its advertising is outright pushy and disrespectful. This is indicative of a self-destructive work culture. Apple don’t touch none of that.
B) Apple isn’t a networked programming provider and wants no part of it.
So Cramer: Incoherent connection to Apple.
“So Cramer: Incoherent connection to Apple.” As usual.
I don’t know what he’s good for. He’s fun to watch! I guess that’s it.
I think his point was actually valid (for once). It wasn’t about Apple, it was about DirectTV. He was saying that if it really were valuable others would be bidding. The fact that they’re not indicates to him that the company is not worth so much.
I don’t agree with your analysis of DirecTV’s reputation at all, nor Cramer’s. We have almost no problems with DirecTV going out during storms; in fact, we had far more outages with local cable companies. And anyone can install a dish if you have a southwest facing view; it’s required by FCC regulations and HOAs, condominium associations, etc. can’t prohibit installation.
As to why Apple isn’t buying DirecTV; that’s obvious: Apple has no use for it (and certainly not at that price). DirecTV can’t provide internet access like a cable company could. Apple is (wisely) simply using the internet for its content delivery rather than taking on the headaches and expenses of operating a physical dumb pipe network.
I’m glad YOU liked DirecTV. As for local cable companies, mine is at the dead bottom of the customer support ratings. Time Warner. Which is one reason they’re attempting to sell themselves to Comcast, who are #2 from the bottom of the customer support ratings. What a team.
There should be a regulation that stipulates a company cannot own (or charge for) both the content and the delivery mechanism. (TV shows and access). Maybe if there were competition (and push by content providers), customer service would improve.
I’d agree. What’s really dirty about the schemes Time Warner has instigated a few times around the USA is that the user ends up paying AS MUCH for the content as they pay for the ACCESS via bandwidth. IOW: Time Warner has attempted to pretend it cost them any significant money to pass along the programming to you. It’s been a total SCAM whereby they were charging about 10x more for bandwidth than it actually cost them. 10x. That is how EVIL these bastard ISPs are willing to be. Of course, I call all ‘evil’ as simply being self-destructive.
Part of that self-destruction, of course, when a customer is THAT abused by any company, results in retribution following thereafter as natural human behavior. From the Neo-Feudalist point of view, its the peasant revolt.
Bid for for Sunday ticket not dtv!
AppleTV exclusive!
Better yet. Apple should use some of their billions and buy the NFL.
Buy Disney. Get ABC, ESPN, movies, TV shows, etc. Please do it, Apple.
Maybe Lauren Jobs would sell her Disney for some Apple.
Agreed.
Then buy NFL Ticket and put Direct TV out of their misery.
(channeling botvinnik) He sure is loud.
This is a ridiculous article. DirecTV is programmed TV. Apple has no interest in that. Programmed content is the past.
“Buying” means you own it and can do anything you want with it lol. As far as network programming, most direct TV customers I know, myself included just record our programs on the built in dvr and watch network programing at our own convenience anyhow.
Perfect Cramer….. Do EVERYTHING, EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what CRAMER climbs the walls and screams at the moon, and demands that you do…. You’ll have riches beyond your wildest dreams…. Otherwise, YOU’LL be howling at the moon too !
I think it is a good idea. Apple’s sales still strong despite the recent period, the company did not launch any new products. The reason comes from sales of the iPhone very well. than’k post.!
Kizi
I was thinking the same thing. Makes far more sense than throwing away 3 billion. Why would Apple allow itself to be at the whims of the Cable companies?
DirecTV has a profit of 2.9 billion with millions of actual paying customers and a healthy 9% margin. Being at the mercy of IP providers is nuts for someone with the kind of money Apple has.
you say apple and 9% margins in the same sentence?
oh, sorry, that was two sentences…..
Seriously? You think Apple’s throwing away $3 billion on Beats, which has a streaming music service that can be made available globally, but spending $50 billion on DirecTV (limited to North America) is a good deal?!?
Apple doesn’t deal with IP providers. Customers deal with IP providers, and if they %*$%* up our streaming capabilities for whatever reason, customers get mad at their IP provider. Not Apple. The IP provider has to run and maintain the cables, equipment, do the marketing, customer billing, etc., and Apple just has the device the customer uses on their existing IP service.
Apple is very smart for NOT being an IP.
Apple does indeed work with IP providers. It striking big deals with them. You might want read the news once in a while.
Gotta say that Satellite is the dominant provider over here and generally though I use cable, is of hi quality both in service and quality so it certainly is possible to make a success of it. Whether there is something inherent there that makes that less feasible or maybe its just too big a ask because of the size I don’t know, but maybe AT&T feels it has the power to transform that scenario. Sounds like the cable companies need the competition.
Apple is a global business, DirecTV and Hulu are American services, and from the sounds of them they are years behind the streaming services available elsewhere in the world. The rights presumably wouldn’t transfer on acquisition, so Apple would be buying the technology to stream, which they don’t need.
Breaking News: Apple is a global brand and DirectTV is a teeny tiny little niche business with an antiquated version of a system that itself is past its time.
more breaking news…
Apple Inc. has just announced the purchase of Earth. After lengthy, secret negotiations with God, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs confirmed the sale early Tuesday morning. When God was asked how Jobs was able to secure such a discounted price, He noted, “I was tired of messing with it anyway.” The sale will be finalized on expected approval by the SEC early next week. Jobs stated, “The acquisition of a planet promises to be a positive addition to the Apple family. Boom.”
more details of sale of Earth to emerge:
As part of the contractual agreement with Apple inc, God has appropriated the recently discovered satellite of Uranus, Molehillios, as permanent exile for Google’s Eric Scmidt.
I would be bidding on Verizon! Get FIOS and Verizon Wireless and you have everything you want and need.
Maybe because, maybe, Apple doesn’t take business advice from a baseball bat wielding idiot?
Why would Apple buy DirecTV for 50 billion when they could just buy all the teams in the NFL for around 35 billion?
Face it, Sunday Ticket is the only thing DirecTV has going for it.