• Broadcasting & Cable, Friday, July 25, 2008 9:30 AM

With a duopoly in satellite radio getting regulatory approval, Wall Street is pondering if the next development will be a satellite-TV duopoly of Dish Network and DirecTV.

Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett doesn't think so. "A DTV/DISH merger is not any more feasible in Washington than before, because the regulatory issues ... are entirely different" from satellite radio, he says.

Moffett says XM-Sirius is perceived to be part of a large market that includes terrestrial radio and portable music devices. It's also highly competitive. But satellite TV is a monopoly in rural America, where fixed-wire cable service is not widely available. That narrow definition of the marketplace "makes a merged DirecTV and Dish a big fish in a small fishbowl," and is therefore perceived as anti-competitive.

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