Dish-DirecTV Deal Won't Fool Feds

Prompted by the first subscriber losses at a major U.S. satellite-TV provider, Dish Network(DISH Quote) could revive a merger attempt with rival DirecTV(DTV Quote), but industry observers say a potential deal will once again be found to be anticompetitive.

Six years removed from failing at a $16 billion tie-up, Dish Network Chairman and CEO Charles Ergen has said market conditions are more welcoming to a deal, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Ergen has reportedly calculated the potential savings of a merger at up to $2 billion a year, and he also harbors hopes of a potent broadband offering from a combined satellite company -- something neither has been done individually.

However, a renewed bid to combine Dish and DirecTV would revisit the same problems that plagued the 2002 attempt -- and would once again fail to pass muster with the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department, the government bodies that would again examine the merger. ...