DISH NETWORK BUYS DBSD; COUNTERING DIRECTV/VERIZON LTE PLANS?

According to a report in the New York Times, Dish Network has decided to acquire satellite operator DBSD North America for $1 billion as the company emerges from bankruptcy. Kaufman Brothers analyst Todd Mitchell tells the paper that Dish's Charles Ergen is "playing chess" with the move, which is primarily about acquiring DBSD's spectrum. What would Dish do with this spectrum? "Dish also has some spectrum, and if you put DBSD and Dish together you could create a 4G or LTE network — it’s a situation where one plus one equals three," says Mr. Mitchell. Keep in mind that as our exclusive leaked photos from last year suggest (confirmed by a loose lipped executive) DirecTV is testing an LTE-based home-broadband service in conjunction with Verizon, so this could be Ergen's countermove. [DSLReports]