Dish Network Still in Ma Bells Sight

Dish Network may be even more in sight of telco provider AT&T, reports Barrons. Thanks to a sharp drop in EchoStar’s share price last week, AT&T is reportedly closer to assembling a bid to buy the satellite tv company possibly even before year end.

Echostar, symbol DISH saw its price plummet 18% to just under $40 last week. In just the last month alone it has nearly lost one quarter of its value. In previous attempts, AT&T was set to offer $65 a share, while EchoStar and its CEO Charlie Ergen were looking more for $75. AT&T may be smelling blood now that Echostar has pulled back significantly.

EchoStar’s stock was rocked on the news in its third-quarter earnings announcement on Nov. 9 that churn had risen to 1.9%, from about 1.7% a year ago, and that the company added only 110,000 subscribers. The report was even weaker when compared to the good earnings released by DirecTV.