Dish Network CEO Charles Ergen’s purchase of bankrupt TerreStar and DBSD...

on DirecTV, but recent developments make Dish as likely a target, they said. The strategic merits of combining Dish’s DBS business and AT&T’s phone service “are relatively thin,” but the benefits of acquiring the spectrum “are compelling,” the analysts said. Several hurdles stand in the way of a deal, including to Ergen’s takeover of DBSD and TerreStar, Credit Suisse said. Shareholders in DBSD and TerreStar oppose the purchases, and the plans require a bankruptcy judge’s approval. But the regulatory environment has improved for an AT&T takeover, the analysts said. Conditions on an AT&T purchase of a DBS company could resemble those on the Comcast-NBC Universal deal, Wiley Rein lawyer Todd Stansbury said on a conference call about the regulatory considerations. Possible conditions could be obligations to extend broadband deployment, carry public interest programming, and expand local-into-local service, he said. Another plausible condition would be to require AT&T to obey net neutrality rules for a set time, regardless of the result of legal challenges to the FCC’s net neutrality rules, Stansbury said. FCC plans for mobile satellite service spectrum are less clear, and the commission has several choices, said Jennifer Hindin, another Wiley Rein lawyer. Commission rules that keep terrestrial service use of the spectrum ancillary to satellite use could limit use of the frequencies, Credit Suisse said. The FCC is expected to move forward soon on an order for a terrestrial allocation in the S-band, where DBSD and TerreStar’s spectrum is, and add secondary leasing rules throughout the MSS spectrum, Hindin said. How the FCC will handle a notice of inquiry that has raised the idea of incentive auctions is far less clear, she said. Many preliminaries, including congressional approval, must be worked out before incentive auctions can be held, Stansbury said.