For years the rumor has floated out there that either Verizon or AT&T would buy DirecTV in order to have direct control of the company's satellite TV operations. Sometimes these rumors are based in conjecture, but more often than not they're based on nothing whatsoever. With DirecTV prepared to get a new CEO (their last CEO just departed to be Rupert Murdoch's right-hand man at News Corp.), the rumors are apparently bubbling up once again. According to Reuters, representatives from both AT&T and Verizon have approached Liberty Media over the last few years about a sale, and the outlet cites sources who believe new CEO Michael White is little more than a "babysitter" until this endlessly-rumored deal can be accomplished.

Satellite hardware equipment maker ViaSat has acquired residential satellite operator WildBlue in a deal estimated to be worth $568 Million. WildBlue, which now has 400,000 rural satellite broadband customers, will become a subsidiary of ViaSat. According to the Associated Press, ViaSat plans to hold consumer prices steady; WildBlue currently offers service ranging from 512 kbps to 1.5 Mbps for between $39.95 and $79.95 a month. Since a belated launch, the carrier has consistently struggled with bandwidth capacity issues, so WildBlue imposes very low usage caps that if crossed result in users being throttled back to less than dial-up speeds.

The Wall Street Journal thinks consolidation will soon be back in vogue, especially after Comcast's recent legal victory against the FCC-imposed 30% TV viewer ownership cap. Without really any sourcing, the company throws out a slew of possible mergers and acquisitions, suggesting that Comcast could show eventual interest in Time Warner Cable and Verizon could buy Dish Network.

For a few years DirecTV has been tinkering with a service that delivers video to the company's satellite customers via broadband, putting them on an interesting collision course with their cable and phone company competitors. When DirecTV recently extended their exclusive distribution deal with the NFL they included the right to deliver NFL games via broadband, something the company will begin testing this fall in NYC. According to USAToday, the service initially will only be made available to those customers who can't receive a satellite signal, and will cost a whopping $349 per season.

It took a very long time for satellite broadband operator WildBlue to get their first satellite into space, and it wasn't long after that the company quickly began suffering from capacity issues. Back in 2007, resellers for satellite broadband company WildBlue informed us that the carrier had frozen new orders because they were struggling with capacity.

In March we discussed how Dish Network was sued for violating the Federal Do Not Call list by the Federal government and four States (California, Illinois, Ohio and North Carolina), At the time, Dish proclaimed that an independent audit revealed no violations, while heavily inferring that any violations may have been the fault of a reseller. This week Dish Network decided to settle, agreeing to pay $5.99 million to 46 different states for the company's marketing practices. The settlement resolves the states’ allegations that DISH Network:

•Refused to accept responsibility for the misconduct of its third-party retailers and installers;
•Made telemarketing calls to consumers in violation of No Call laws;
•Failed to disclose the complete terms and conditions of their customer agreements, including the availability of rebates, credits and free offers;
•Did not disclose that purchased or leased equipment was previously used and/or refurbished;
•Made reference to competitors’ price offers when the goods or services being compared were substantially different; and,
•Charged customer credit cards and debited bank accounts without providing adequate notice and obtaining appropriate authorization.

Back in 2003, Dish Network faced similar complaints by Colorado and 12 other states.

HughesNet Communications customers in our forums have been complaining for several years now that the carrier doesn't deliver the speeds advertised, on top of the company's very strict "fair access policy" (or FAP) caps. In a move that may (or may not) improve things, HughesNet this week announced that they'll be launching a new, multi-spot beam, bent pipe Ka-band 100Gbps capacity satellite in the first quarter of 2012. Their last Spaceway 3 launch didn't seem to help, despite the fact the bird was supposed to reduce delivery costs by 70% on a per-bit basis. HughesNet was sued back in May by customers angry that they weren't getting the service promised, yet weren't allowed to get out of long-term contracts with the company.

After Echostar was sued in 2004, a jury in 2006 ruled that Dish DVRs infringed upon a TiVo patent, and forced the company to pay TiVo $73.9 million in damages -- a ruling that was upheld in federal appeals court in January of 2008. Later on in 2008, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case -- essentially handing a victory to TiVo. Ultimately Echostar implemented a workaround, but a federal judge in Texas has awarded TiVo an additional $103 million in damages plus interest after finding that Echostar violated an injunction and continued to violate patents after previous rulings. Echostar and Dish Network say they're going to appeal the ruling, and have already paid TiVo $105 million in damages.

DirecTV CEO Chase Carey's potential departure for News Corporation has resulted in yet another round of rumors that DirecTV could be sold. According to Collins Stewart cable and satellite analyst Tom Eagan, Carey's done the "heavy lifting" in turning the satellite carrier around and negotiating the Liberty Media merger and NFL contract extension -- and is now ready to be Rupert Murdoch's number right arm at News Corp. AT&T, who just selected DirecTV as their exclusive TV resale partner in non-U-Verse neighborhoods, has been rumored to be a prime candidate to take over DirecTV for as long as we can remember. Other than stock fluctuations (which may be the whole point), nothing ever comes of the rumors.

A May 7 report by the General Accounting Office (GAO) suggests that government dysfunction and under-funding could result in increased GPS outages. The story got the press very hot and bothered, though even the Airforce seems to admit there's not much to worry about.

When you've got a captive audience (like say, rural broadband customers with no other options), you can get away with a hell of a lot. Just ask Hughesnet, a satellite broadband company that's managed to stay in business despite offering consistently sub-par service to customers for much of the last few years.

Charter Communications sued DirecTV earlier this week for false advertising, claiming that DirecTV ads urging customers to flee Charter due to their bankruptcy and reorganization infer that the company is on the brink of disaster. A Judge has subsequently ruled that DirecTV must stop running the ads unless they are modified. "We are still able to point to the fact that Charter is in bankruptcy and the outcome is uncertain," DirecTV says -- they apparently just can't advise customers to run for their lives.

While DirecTV just posted their best subscriber gains in four years (460,000 new subscribers), rival Dish Network this morning announced they lost 94,000 subscribers during the first quarter. Still, net income rose to $313 million from $259 million one year ago, with total revenue reaching $2.91 billion -- up 2.1% compared with $2.84 billion a year earlier. The loss of AT&T as a resale partner hurt Dish, but the carrier was already struggling to stay competitive with telcoTV, cable, and DirecTV promotions.

Earlier this week, we noted how satellite broadband provider WildBlue announced they'd soon be testing 18Mbps satellite service. The timing of the announcement comes as Wild Blue and HughesNet are trying to convince Uncle Sam that satellite broadband would be a great way to spend billions in broadband stimulus money. But in conversations with GigaOM's Stacey Higginbotham, Wild Blue reveals top actual speeds offered would be closer to 10Mbps, such speeds are still three years out, and apparently dependent on Wild Blue getting some help from Uncle Sam. If you remember how long it took Wild Blue to get their first satellite into space, you might not want to hold your breath.

WildBlue has announced they'll be demonstrating 18Mbps residential satellite connectivity in Denver this Wednesday. Satellite customers of the two largest satellite carriers (HughesNet and Wild Blue) frequently complain that the carriers often fail to deliver their current advertised speeds, so we're sure many of them will believe 18Mbps when they see it.

According to Reuters, the U.S. government and four states have sued Dish Network for marketing to users who signed up for the national do-not-call registry. The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Springfield, Illinois and was joined by state attorneys general from California, Illinois, Ohio and North Carolina. "An independent audit demonstrates that DISH Network is in compliance with 'do-not-call' laws, has proper controls in place, and is well within the safe-harbor provisions of the law," Dish Network said in a statement. Dish's public statement appears to hint that an independent retailer was responsible for the violations, and the company suggests that they'll sort out the "differences of opinion" in court.

DirecTV has scored a huge win in their battle against cable and telcoTV competitors by extending their exclusive contract with the NFL to broadcast out of market NFL games (aka "Sunday Ticket"). According to Multichannel News, the NFL has reached a four-year contract extension with DirecTV to remain the TV home of the Sunday Ticket package through 2014.

• Pelosi Asks Justice To Take Broader View Of Competitive Landscape [multichannel.com]
• The risks of a national broadband network [aardvark.co.nz]
• Congress re-mulls ban on wireless tax [theregister.co.uk]
• Google, Yahoo, Skype in survey that states obvious: Consumers expect unrestricted Internet access [reuters.com]
• Is it a bad idea for IBM to buy Sun? [cnet.com]
• Survey reveals woeful service from UK broadband big boys [pcpro.co.uk]
• In-Stat: 30% of subscribers will be 3G or 4G by 2013 [fiercewireless.com]
• Skype offers Mac users free Wi-Fi [yahoo.com]
• Choruss' Music Tax Plan: Bait-And-Switch [techdirt.com]
• Further Sony Ericsson Break-Up Rumours [cellular-news.com]
• AT&T to offer unsubsidized iPhone 3G with no commitment required? [engadget.com]
• Privacy watchdog barks for federal Gmail probe [theregister.co.uk]

• Australia's Blacklisted Hyperlinks to Cost Webmasters $11,000 a Day [maximumpc.com]
• Recession Isn't Holding Back Mobile Broadband Subscribers [cellular-news.com]
• Telus to invest $500-million to improve B.C. broadband [theglobeandmail.com]
• AT&T takes smart grids residential [telephonyonline.com]
• Is BT losing its bottle on Phorm? [pcpro.co.uk]
• CEA: Cable Should Rely On Common Downloadable-Security Scheme [multichannel.com]
• Irish ISPs Point Out They're Under No Obligation To Follow Three Strikes Policy [siliconrepublic.com]
• Discovery sues Amazon over Kindle patent infringement; won't seek to stop sales [cellular-news.com]

Dish Network was already being hit pretty hard by the housing bubble, but AT&T's decision to cancel their partnership with the satellite company is only making things worse. Without AT&T's bundle promotions, or AT&T's previously much-ballyhooed DBS/DSL hybrid HomeZone unit taking on new customers, Dish is expecting already bad numbers to get worse. While most other TV operators managed slow but strong growth, Dish lost 102,000 subscribers last quarter, blaming "weaker economic conditions, aggressive subscriber acquisition and retention promotions by our competition, heavy marketing by our competition, the growth of fiber-based and Internet-based video providers, signal theft and other forms of fraud, and operational inefficiencies at Dish Network."