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Satellite Deal Of The Day

By Staff Writer | October 7, 2004
      • Qwest Communications International Inc. [Q] and DirecTV Inc., a unit of The DirecTV Group [DTV], forged a strategic marketing alliance that will allow Qwest to offer DirecTV digital satellite services to residential customers in the western United States. Starting next year, Qwest will market and provide front-line customer support for the DirecTV service, and it will offer customers a single bill covering both the telecommunications and direct-to-home satellite television services.

        The move may come as a bit of a surprise, particularly when one considers the integrated billing that is part of the deal, because Qwest and EchoStar Communications Corp. [DISH] ended a similar relationship because the Dish Network operator suggested Qwest wasn’t offering a single-bill, bundled service to its subscribers. But given Qwest’s deal with DirecTV, one has to wonder if other factors came into play that made EchoStar an unattractive dance partner.