• TheStreet.com, Tuesday, January 31, 2006 11:16 AM

Responding to pressure from cable companies, which have had significant success delivering broadband access to residential customers, DirecTV and EchoStar Communications--the country's two leading satellite service providers--are reportedly cooperating on a plan to deliver high-speed wireless broadband. The report was published yesterday at TheStreet.com under Sandy Brown's byline. According to the story, the initiative comes from DirecTV, which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. "If News Corp. is able to build out a wireless data service through DirecTV, it could mark a large change in the competitive landscape," writes Brown. For the first time, it would allow the satellite deliverers to compete with the cable companies in providing the so-called "triple-threat" bundle of television, telephony, and Internet. The bundle, which has proved popular with consumers, not only reduces one's monthly combined bill for these services, it tends to create greater loyalty between the customer and his provider. One analyst quoted by TheStreet.com says that the buildout, if it occurred, would cost DirecTV and EchoStar about $1 billion each.

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