Dish Network Pushing Hard For Wireless

Two interesting articles in the news.  The first article from Reuters was that Dish Network has raised their bid for Clearwire while simultaneously trying to buy Sprint as well.  The second article, in the business section of The Wall Street Journal, talks about cord cutters not only dropping their cable subscription, but their wired internet subscription as well.  "Hundreds of thousands of Americans canceled their home Internet service last year, surveys suggest, taking advantage of the proliferation of Wi-Fi hot spots and fast new wireless networks that have made Web connections on smartphones and tablets ubiquitous."

Does Dish Network see the same trend?  Along with a satellite business, Dish must certainly believe as well that owning a wireless universe could make them a stronger competitive threat to cable.  And as long as the Wi-Fi cost to the subscriber is seen as a good value,  a likely disruptor to the wired world. 

For light users of video streaming, a Wi-Fi solution is seen as far cheaper than a cable and wired broadband subscription.  But wireless providers may not be willing to support the heavy streaming user with an "all you can stream" solution at one low monthly price.   Those users may indeed find more value staying with their cable and broadband provider.  That is until a company can build out a scalable solution of wireless that can be offered at a lower cost and with higher connectivity speeds.  And that is likely the direction Dish may seek to take in buying up companies like Sprint, Clearwire, and Lightsquared.