There’s a “Plan A” at Dish Networks, and it’s to move aggressively into the wireless business, CEO Joe Clayton told a New York media briefing Tuesday. But “if you can’t get a partner, for a myriad of reasons, then you'd better have a Plan B,” Clayton said of recent statements by Dish Chairman Charles Ergen that merging with DirecTV possibly would be a “doable” deal (CD Nov 7 p4). “Plan B may be, let’s merge with DirecTV and have bigger size and scale, and then we'll launch wireless,” Clayton said. Plan C, if that doesn’t work, would be for Dish to be bought by AT&T, he said. Plans D and E would be to “sell the spectrum,” he said. “All of these are speculation, but you'd better have several different paths to success.” All would be in the best interests of Dish employees, customers and shareholders, he said: “I'm not going to handicap any of the above, but I can tell you our efforts right now is on Plan A, and that’s to move aggressively into the wireless space.” No “aggressive negotiations” are taking place between Dish and DirecTV or other potential merger partners, he said. “These are all possibilities down the road. We're moving to wireless.” On Dish’s legal battle with broadcasters over Dish’s Auto-Hop commercial-skipping feature, “we won Round 1” about a month ago when a federal judge in California denied Fox’s motion for a preliminary injunction barring the Auto-Hop feature, Clayton said. ABC has moved for a similar injunction in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, and a ruling on that motion is expected in January, he said. “We expect to prevail on that,” as Dish did in the California court, he said. “We think we'll be in pretty good shape as we go forward. That’s not going to stop the broadcasters from challenging the thing, but we'll knock them off one at a time.” Clayton thinks ultimately there'll be “a meeting of the minds,” resolving the dispute, he said. “We don’t want the broadcasters mad at us. We're supposed to be partners.” Clayton thinks that instead of “challenging technology,” broadcasters should “embrace” it, using it to “better target ads and commercials to the buying public,” he said. Broadcasters “don’t get this,” he said. Instead of embracing technology, “they walk away from it, and then they wonder why their viewership declines every single year and why the effectiveness of the advertising is not as good.” Broadcasters will never stop consumers from skipping commercials, he said: “Are you kidding me?”
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website Dec. 4, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)
There’s a “Plan A” at Dish Networks, and it’s to move aggressively into the wireless business, CEO Joe Clayton told a New York media briefing Tuesday. But “if you can’t get a partner, for a myriad of reasons, then you'd better have a Plan B,” Clayton said of recent statements by Dish Chairman Charles Ergen that merging with DirecTV possibly would be a “doable” deal (CED Nov 7 p1).
The International Trade Administration published notices in the Dec. 4 Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The International Trade Administration issued the final results of the administrative review of the countervailing duty order on citric acid and certain citrate salts from China ( C-570-938), which sets a CV cash deposit rate of 5.27 percent for the RZBC Companies (RZBC Group Shareholding Co., Ltd / RZBC Co., Ltd. / RZBC Juxian Co., Ltd. / RZBC Imp. & Exp. Co., Ltd.). This rate is effective Dec. 5.
Conn’s reported stronger results for Q3 ended Oct. 31 than it did in the year-ago quarter, as “strength in appliances, furniture and mattresses, and home office offset slight weakness in electronics, principally television,” CEO Theodore Wright said on an earnings call Monday. The TV weakness carried over into November and the retail chain remains “cautious” on that category, but is upbeat about smart TVs, it said.
The International Trade Administration preliminarily found that certain steel threaded rod products with 1.25 percent or more chromium by weight, produced by Gem-Year Industrial Co., Ltd., are circumventing the antidumping duty order on certain steel threaded rod from China (A-570-932) because they are of the same class or kind as merchandise subject to the order. The ITA will instruct CBP to suspend liquidation and collect AD cash deposits on entries of the merchandise at issue in this anti-circumvention inquiry effective Jan . 5, 2012.
The Court of International Trade affirmed a recalculation of the all others rate determined in the countervailing duty investigation of aluminum extrusions from China (C-570-968), after having remanded the International Trade Administration’s “unreasonable” 374.15 percent rate twice previously. The all others CV rate had been based on 100% use of all subsidy programs alleged in the petition, because it was derived from the adverse facts available rates assigned to the mandatory respondents. In its recalculation, the ITA cut down on the number of subsidy programs used to set the rate for the all others companies, finding a CV rate of 137.65 percent. CIT also affirmed the all others CV rate from the preliminary determination.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website Nov. 30, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)
The International Trade Administration issued the final results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on pure magnesium in granular form from China (A-570-864). The ITA found the sole reviewed company, China Minmetals Non-Ferrous Metals Co., to be part of the China-wide entity because it did not demonstrate eligibility for a separate rate. According to the preliminary results of this review, China Minmetals notified the ITA that it had no shipments during the period of review after the applicable deadline, and did not respond to any subsequent questionnaires. The new rate is effective Dec. 3, and will be implemented by CBP soon.