FCC threatens EchoStar licenses for spectrum that SpaceX wants to use
- Thread starter JournalBot
- Start date
This is what big business "voted" for as well - is it not?
Many more will be in-line to get disemboweled by the very swords they helped forge.
At the other end of that - it has been volumes spoken by this administration wherein they can't even begin to be bothered to hide their corruption and grifting.
They know they will not lose their voters even as they rob and grift from those very same.
When to the mind-wiped, the dear leader can do no wrong, then there is no wrong that Trump isn't willing to do (and the many lickspittles that manage to stay in his good graces)
Edit: Spelling and toned it down a bit
Many more will be in-line to get disemboweled by the very swords they helped forge.
At the other end of that - it has been volumes spoken by this administration wherein they can't even begin to be bothered to hide their corruption and grifting.
They know they will not lose their voters even as they rob and grift from those very same.
When to the mind-wiped, the dear leader can do no wrong, then there is no wrong that Trump isn't willing to do (and the many lickspittles that manage to stay in his good graces)
Edit: Spelling and toned it down a bit
Upvote
158
(170
/
-12)
At the end of the day, this is all about money. EchoStar will have to fight to retain their spectrum but the foregone conclusion is that they will lose the license because Musk wants it and has paid the Trump tax to get it.
Upvote
134
(147
/
-13)
Well, we all know Echostar should have made a $250 million "donation". Should have been obvious. Since they didn't, I don't know how they would expect a different outcome...
/s (sigh)
/s (sigh)
Upvote
71
(82
/
-11)
The Nazis are not even hiding it anymore, they do what they want and no one says anything about it or tries to stop them. Yay, Nazi America!!!!!! Fucking fascist pigs, all of America now.....All animals are equal, some are just more equal than others......
Upvote
28
(60
/
-32)
I am shocked - shocked! - that an Elon Musk company could be the main beneficiary of this action by the Trump administration.
Well not that shocked.
Honestly surprised Carr isn't just trying to take it away without the whole pretense of giving EchoStar a chance to respond.
Well not that shocked.
Honestly surprised Carr isn't just trying to take it away without the whole pretense of giving EchoStar a chance to respond.
Upvote
80
(92
/
-12)
Where any other administration would take note (though they wouldn't be in this position in the first place) is that even if everything Carr says is 100% true - the conflicts of interest have been so blatant, that folks just wont accept it.
It's what happens when you're used to operating with 0 credibility..
Boy who cried wolf and all that...
It's what happens when you're used to operating with 0 credibility..
Boy who cried wolf and all that...
Upvote
75
(77
/
-2)
I've been following Ergen's wireless moves forever (since I run a website that maps out cell phone spectrum).
I always thought his angle was to try and eventually sell the spectrum and take the cash and walk away. His hand was forced by the FCC by being forced to actually build a network and sell service. And Dish/Echostar has long teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. There was some recent shuffling of these wireless licenses between companies, but I'm not sure if it was some sort of Texas two-step bankruptcy or something else where Ergen can charge off his debts and protect the spectrum licenses.
He is a smart guy for sure. Never would ever play poker against him. And he did great running a satellite business for 20+ years (I was a Dish subscriber for many years). But the wireless industry requires a scale he doesn't seem interested in obtaining.
I always thought his angle was to try and eventually sell the spectrum and take the cash and walk away. His hand was forced by the FCC by being forced to actually build a network and sell service. And Dish/Echostar has long teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. There was some recent shuffling of these wireless licenses between companies, but I'm not sure if it was some sort of Texas two-step bankruptcy or something else where Ergen can charge off his debts and protect the spectrum licenses.
He is a smart guy for sure. Never would ever play poker against him. And he did great running a satellite business for 20+ years (I was a Dish subscriber for many years). But the wireless industry requires a scale he doesn't seem interested in obtaining.
Last edited:
Upvote
99
(99
/
0)
I see we've moved into the "saying the quiet part out loud" phase of full oligarchy. They aren't even really trying to spin it anymore.
Upvote
40
(48
/
-8)
Spectrum seems to be one of the most valuable assets of re-merged Dish/Echostar. I'm sympathetic to the wireless buildout delays – telco is just a capital-intensive industry, and they did in the span of a few COVID-impacted years what other companies took decades to incrementally build. As a strictly technical achievement, it's hard not to find it impressive. Physical things out in the world take time to build.
But leadership has shockingly abysmal business sense. For a fun read, pop over to LightReading and enjoy the carousel of rotating executives every 6 months. I can't imagine a world where they have the cashflow or product growth to meaningful ROI on the spectrum licenses they've stockpiled. And given that spectrum is a strictly finite resource allocated by the government, reallocation if a company can't uphold their end of the bargain doesn't strike me as unfair or anti-marketplace. If this nudges Echostar to sell to someplace else which can make a higher and better use of it, the outcome could be net positive for consumers.
Granted, I also assume this is absolutely Musk-owned FCC trying to favor Musk's enterprises where they can, so there's that angle too.
But leadership has shockingly abysmal business sense. For a fun read, pop over to LightReading and enjoy the carousel of rotating executives every 6 months. I can't imagine a world where they have the cashflow or product growth to meaningful ROI on the spectrum licenses they've stockpiled. And given that spectrum is a strictly finite resource allocated by the government, reallocation if a company can't uphold their end of the bargain doesn't strike me as unfair or anti-marketplace. If this nudges Echostar to sell to someplace else which can make a higher and better use of it, the outcome could be net positive for consumers.
Granted, I also assume this is absolutely Musk-owned FCC trying to favor Musk's enterprises where they can, so there's that angle too.
Upvote
63
(66
/
-3)
Looks like Musk is only fretful about alleged expropriation when South Africa is doing it. Shocking.
Upvote
11
(25
/
-14)
A case of "two things can be true."
1. This is a naked land grab by Musk and Trump, with whatever justification they could find to throw a dish towel over the corruption.
2. Ergen and EchoStar never had any intention of using their spectrum, and the acquisition was cynical profiteering off of a public resource. Now that they have to, they've dragged their feet as much as possible.
It's as blatant a grift as anything else the administration does, but there's no need to shed tears for Echostar. The biggest problem to come out of this is likely that there will only be three wireless networks.
1. This is a naked land grab by Musk and Trump, with whatever justification they could find to throw a dish towel over the corruption.
2. Ergen and EchoStar never had any intention of using their spectrum, and the acquisition was cynical profiteering off of a public resource. Now that they have to, they've dragged their feet as much as possible.
It's as blatant a grift as anything else the administration does, but there's no need to shed tears for Echostar. The biggest problem to come out of this is likely that there will only be three wireless networks.
Upvote
122
(123
/
-1)
jstephe6361
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
I'm pretty sure they had to pay for that allocation in a spectrum action, if they did then, to bad for Musk. Oh never mind the crooked FCC will steal it back on behalf of there new overlords.
Upvote
-7
(4
/
-11)
First: Unfortunately, they got outbid by Elon on how much they could kiss ass.
Second: Why bother hiding it? There are no repercussions.
Upvote
8
(13
/
-5)
This doesn't seem like it should be hard to figure out.
1: How many subscribers does Echostar(ES) have that use the spectrum in question?
2: How many will ES have in a year? Two years?
If 2 isn't much larger then 1 and 1 isn't large enough to let ES keep the spectrum, then not good for ES.
If the spectrum is taken away, it should be returned to the public pool and a new auction process held. No free transfers. Buyer has to continue to provide service to existing subscribers somehow without additional cost to subscribers.
1: How many subscribers does Echostar(ES) have that use the spectrum in question?
2: How many will ES have in a year? Two years?
If 2 isn't much larger then 1 and 1 isn't large enough to let ES keep the spectrum, then not good for ES.
If the spectrum is taken away, it should be returned to the public pool and a new auction process held. No free transfers. Buyer has to continue to provide service to existing subscribers somehow without additional cost to subscribers.
Upvote
39
(39
/
0)
David Mayer
Ars Centurion
This is what happenes when there are malicious participants in the political system and most people's response is limited to voting in general elections.
Upvote
18
(22
/
-4)
And what reasoning is that? They're into BDSM? We wouldn't be having "regret" stories posted everywhere if people were wed that much to dear leader.This is what big business "voted" for as well - is it not?
Many more will be in-line to get disemboweled by the very swords they helped forge.
At the other end of that - it has been volumes spoken by this administration wherein they can't even begin to be bothered to hide their corruption and grifting.
They know they will not lose their voters even as they rob and grift from those very same.
When to the mind-wiped, the dear leader can do no wrong, then there is no wrong that Trump isn't willing to do (and the many lickspittles that manage to stay in his good graces)
Edit: Spelling and toned it down a bit
Upvote
0
(2
/
-2)
I believe EchoStar got the spectrum as part T-Mobile's acquisition of Sprint a few years ago. I wouldn't doubt that T-Mobile paid --or gave very good price-- for the spectrum that EchoStar ended up with. The whole point was for Dish to be the 4th mobile option replacing Sprint. I think you're right that they never really intended to use the spectrum.
While both your points may be true; I can also be disgusted with Musk and Ergen.
Upvote
18
(19
/
-1)
While I was initially skeptical, I am starting to come around to agreeing with Scott Galloway that we are already in a full blown kleptocracy. So very sad...
Upvote
3
(9
/
-6)
David Mayer
Ars Centurion
The reason Orwell was so prophetic is that he based everything he wrote on things he actually saw happening around him.
Upvote
32
(32
/
0)
David Mayer
Ars Centurion
They are doing that in order to manipulate their opposition. They want their opposition to continue playing by the old rules that are no longer in force. It's working. American democracy is, at best, in a state of superposition between existing and not existing, and at worst, only exists in history books and people just haven't fully realized that yet.
Upvote
17
(18
/
-1)
queue the musk simps trying to defend the fact that musk isn't running the gov and just running a giant graft operation.
Though more likely they will just stay silent and pretend this isn't true, just like cancelling the billion dollar verizon contracts to give to starlink.
It must be a terrible thing to simp for a billionaire. Especially your chosen savior/owner is a actual nazi and already responsible for hundreds to thousands of deaths (ending of us aid)
Though more likely they will just stay silent and pretend this isn't true, just like cancelling the billion dollar verizon contracts to give to starlink.
It must be a terrible thing to simp for a billionaire. Especially your chosen savior/owner is a actual nazi and already responsible for hundreds to thousands of deaths (ending of us aid)
Upvote
5
(13
/
-8)
Democracy, and the whole idea of a "law-based economic system". Which should terrify people, because what replaces that is some form of "power-based economic system", where your ownership of anything is contingent on a more powerful person not deciding they want it instead.
That power might be economic (the golden rule; he who has the gold makes the rules") or it might be political (whoever is more in favour with King Trump wins).
If you want to know what that looks like, look at Russia after the fall of the USSR.
Upvote
17
(18
/
-1)
Yep. Tmo had to divest Boost, enough spectrum licenses to create a viable 4th carrier, and like a decade of roaming. Afaik their subscriber count is pretty bad though.
Upvote
5
(5
/
0)
Upvote
1
(5
/
-4)
Upvote
3
(9
/
-6)
Of all the crooks and yokels you voted for, this one is probably the most cunning and dangerous.
Upvote
1
(4
/
-3)
Next up: Carr steals 902-928mhz from all of us and hands it to nextnav without warning.
Upvote
1
(4
/
-3)
Can't scare the other Oligarchs too much, yet. They haven't suitably upended the system sufficiently that they can just stomp on anyone they want with no consequences yet. The big money interests still need to be given the appearance of fairness until they've decide the fully armed and operational fascism allows them to dissolve all pretenses.
Upvote
5
(8
/
-3)
RickRoyLeonPrisZhoraRacha
Ars Scholae Palatinae
Its like a comicbook of gangsters, a mob-boss wannabe, a ketamine-mime and a shadow-govt of inept overthrowing the constitution with a coup.
Stop buying/leasing Tesla!
Sell off ANY stocks of Boring Company, Starlink, SpaceX and Solarcity.
Upvote
3
(7
/
-4)
Is this correct?, is this incorrect?, hard to tell.
Because the CEO of SpaceX embedded himself into this administration, so any action of this administration that benefits one of his companies is automatically suspect.
Because the CEO of SpaceX embedded himself into this administration, so any action of this administration that benefits one of his companies is automatically suspect.
Upvote
9
(10
/
-1)
The Sheep Look Up
Ars Praetorian
If you work at SpaceX and you're not literally performing industrial espionage and/or sabotage, you are an active participant in a fascist regime.
Upvote
6
(19
/
-13)