Will DirecTV Try To Merge With Dish Network?

DirecTV CEO Michael White kept the ember of this long-standing idea burning this morning at the Goldman Sachs Annual Communicopia Conference. “Consolidation could be pro-consumer, perhaps,” he told investors, citing, among other things, the soaring programming costs for DirecTV and other pay TV providers.

White says that outlays for popular channels are growing “at an unsustainable rate for consumers.” This would be an awkward time to pursue a deal. Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen has been amassing rights for wireless spectrum and “we have to see what he has in mind to do with it,” White says. Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile already are well established in the wireless phone business. “It’s hard for us to see why we’d ever want to go in and compete in that space.” DirecTV would like to offer broadband services, but White says it probably makes more sense to partner with a provider.