“I think Apple will buy Dish Network, the American direct satellite TV broadcaster,” Robert X. Cringely writes for I, Cringely.
“It’s the only acquisition that will give Apple the kind of entry point they want into the TV business, allowing Cupertino to create overnight an over-the-top (OTT) Internet streaming video service — effectively an Internet cable system,” Cringely writes. “Starz was Netflix’s streaming killer app. And Dish will be Apple’s because gaining access to all that content will be worth to Cupertino whatever it costs. Even if it destroys Dish in the process, Apple will succeed, which is exactly why they will succeed.”
“Each Dish employee represents only $800,000 in sales so many of those 19,000 workers will have to go. But if Apple outsources just satellite dish installation and customer support they’ll easily pull the revenue numbers up toward the target $2 million per employee,” Cringely writes. “One Dish employee Tim Cook will be sure to keep is CEO Charlie Ergen — a tough-yet-charismatic operator who built Dish from scratch and knows his industry. Apple won’t succeed without a Charlie Ergen at the TV controls. Ergen’s already a billionaire but he’ll stick around for a chance to turn TV on its head.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’re not so sure Apple needs an entity like Dish in order to accomplish what they’re trying to accomplish with Apple TV.
Could be that Apple will buy Dish for the same reason they bought Palm.
