The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Dish network is buying some of the debt from Siruis XM and the possibility that the company will go after the satellite radio broadcaster.
One speculation is that Dish will force Sirius XM to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy and then the company will swoop in and buy the company.
But why would Dish go after Siruis XM? “Why is EchoStar interested? Its own core satellite TV business has been drifting and Ergen’s searching for a new strategy”, reports Tom Taylor in his radio-info newsletter. “His company could also benefit from the Sirius XM ground facilities and repeaters.”
This makes absolutely no sense why Dish would go after SiruisXM, especially for the use of ground repeaters. Dish bought some of 700mhz spectrum that the company will take over after the analog TV shutdown is completed in June. The only reason I can see is that Dish will buy SiriusXM and use the satellite service in areas where Dish did not acquire some of the old analog spectrum.
Then again, maybe he likes satellite radio.