I just don

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granduncle

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Correct. You said
I'll ask again: any links? "Feds" which side of the border?
Says who? Why is BCE's $32B debt brought up when talking about BeV? Is there any reasonable proof BeV is the loss leader?

BCE's market cap is around $30B. Debt to equity ratio of 1 isn't good but not unheard of. If BeV would come up with a workable business model (securing their signal would be a good first step), why can't a spinoff fetch $2-3B?

BTW, debt to equity for BCE is 0.66, i.e. about $20B debt. Also, companies are never taken private when they are considered a sh!tty investment.
 
IF EV is shut down, the transponder allocations go back to Telesat and/or the public domain for reassignment by Industry Canada. EV does not own them, they lease them for broadcast use. Telesat owns the satellites, Canada owns the frequencies. That makes EV totally worthless (probably bankrupt) if it is shut down. EV has permission to sublet 16 of it's leased N5 transponders at 72.7 to Dish. DTV has permission to use transponder space at 72.7 until they are required by EV in 2009. That has nothing to do with EV since permission was granted by Industry Canada and the FCC and DTV is using its own satellite.

If EV is sold (any sale is speculation at the moment) the purchaser will assume any debt. That lowers the value considerably but it will remove some debt load from the Bell portfolio. Purchase by Shaw would be a non-starter due to their ownership of *C and Shaw Cable already. (Ownership of all 3 would violate CRTC regulations for half of Canada.) Rogers appears to be a good fit but I doubt they want it. That leaves the possibility of Cogeco, a large broadcaster or, quite likely, a consortium of broadcasters.
 
Bell will never sell BEV , most of BEV customers if it went out of business would take their phone and internet business with them to another provider so it would have been the end of Bell.
 
They wull probably go 8PSK once nimiq4 launches. The current satellites are too craptacular to be able to handle the extra power 8psk requires.

If you ask me, BCE doesn't really care about BEV. I think it will be sold off very soon.
 
In todays world...I would never say never but it would be highly unlikely that Evu will be sold by the new management. You notice that I said "management" not owners. This is a long term investment for the pension fund and as you may have noticed the triming of some of the fat has begun. It was made clear by the new CEO that Evu remains one of their core units. With two million subs it is not leaving. I do recollect comments made that any sale of Evu to Shaw would not be viewed in a positive manner by the current federal government or the CRTC when the sale was in limbo several months ago.
 
I remember reading in a previous post about a week or so ago that Dish or DTV have to vacate that 72.7 spot byt the end of 2009 because that is when Bell's lease begins.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=88974&page=3
 
It's my understanding DirecTV must move by the 31st December, 2009, but Dish has leased half the transponders of Nimiq 5, and if you believe it, wants to have the other 16 too!
 
I agree. Any acquisition by another telco would lead to a loss of bundle subscribers. The other aspect is that Bell takes advantage of vertical integration when determining costs. For example, a 10 $million purchase of telecom services by EV is bad for it's bottom line but it boosts other Bell divisions. Another owner could buy those services elsewhere. EV may be losing money but Bell's retail telephone and internet divisions make a good profit, in part due to Bell's ownership of EV. I also suspect that EV would make money if the signal pirating problem is solved.
 
This question may have been asked (In fact I think it has) but does anyone know when Nimiq 4 might be launched? Weren't they supposed to launch it in the spring? Has the date just kept getting pushed back further and further? What if this happens with Nimiq 5 as well?
 
DTV will be vacating. Dish has an agreement with EV to use 16 TPs on N5 after that. EV will use the other 16 TPs. Dish may be moving to start using or testing at 92.7, ahead of N5 deployment.
 
Perhaps you have not seen I_Want that Dish has applied to the FCC for authorization to use "up to 32 transponders" @ 72.7 The link that others have posted shows the authorization to move an existing E* satellite and use 16 transponders.

Once Dish gets FCC authorization to use all transponders on a foreign satellite, similar requests for other satellite locations would be rubber stamped.


Let's look at the factors in play here:
1) Charlie must deliver all locals in HD as per FCC mandate. Charlie needs a lot of new bandwidth now.
2) Privatized BCE needs to reduce $32B debt load as soon as possible. They have saved $200M by cutting the existing 16 N5 transponder deal with Charlie. Add another 16, save another $200m.
3) Shaw will need a national partner for their upstart regional cell phone business.
4) The Feds have leaked that they wouldn't approve Shaw buying Expressvu.

So here's a scenario - I'm not saying that it will happen - but here's 1 option that BCE has:
Close down Expressvu, sell all transponders @ 91 & 82 to Charlie. Try to get Charlie to take back all customer receivers. This could net $500m to $700m to reduce debt. Add in the 72 deal and they have netted around $1B.

Next cut a deal with SBS, just like any cable company does, for access to all Anik signals. Cut a deal with Motorola for hardware/access control - should cost ~ $250m.

Feds can't block this as BCE can rightly claim they are no different than Eastlink, Rogers in NFLD, etc.

Advantage to SBS - they can afford to pay Telesat for the extended Ku band satellite just approved for 111.1. Room for 128 HD signals in MPEG4/8PSK there.

Just 1 option that BCE has.
 
I'm not sure anyone knows for sure. There are delays due to launch failures. This Fall is possible if the problems are resolved.
 
That's never going to happen! They can't just shut off 1.8 million customers. The CRTC, among others, would never allow it.

-Mike
 
Its a free market, Xvu is a private enterprise so the CRTC has no real say. If Bell comes out tomorrow and says 'Xvu is consistently losing money and its not profitable for us to keep it going', who's to stop them from shutting it down or declaring bankruptcy?? Businesses come and go everyday, who cares how many customers it has, if its not making money then the owners can do with it as they wish since its THEIR COMPANY!!
 
The CRTC has said that Shaw can not acquire BEV, however the FCC said that XM and Sirius could never merge. (I know it's not exactly the same thing, but the CRTC has been rubber stamping acquisitions lately.)

This whole conversation seems to be a sore spot with people. I think we'll get a clearer picture of what is going to happen, if anything soon.
I don't know how valid the bundling debate is.
 
Let's not forget that Shaw actually owns starchoice. Therefore if shaw bought BEV then there would be a satellite TV monoppoly in Canada! That deal by the way (Donnybrook) is reatarted because with a $32 billion dept reducing it by $1B really doesn't make that much of a difference. Not only would Bell be losing a huge chunk of their holdings but BEV has the potential to become a leading high quality HDTV service if only the right people were at the helm.
 
We have very clear picture right now , BEV is not for sale . Anything else is just a speculation.
 
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