DirecTV CEO Chase Carey told Reuters that the DBS firm has been in talks with rival DBS company EchoStar Communications about teaming on a wireless broadband play.
“If something involved EchoStar…there would be greater scales to distribution,” Carey told the news service. He added, however, that working with partners also adds “complexities” and that no final decisions have been made.
Speculation concerning DirecTV’s high-speed data plans went into overdrive last month when News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch told investors that they’d hear about “a very clear plan” within two months. Reports then surfaced that DirecTV was in discussions with EchoStar on a national wireless broadband platform that could cost about $1 billion.
On Wednesday, DirecTV posted a Q4 profit of $121 million, versus a net loss of $289 million in the year-ago quarter. The DBS company ended the year with 15.1 million subs. It added 200,000 net subs in Q4, down from 263,000 a year earlier.