DirectTV, EchoStar Tab Clearwire For Wireless Web

Watch out cable: here comes satellite.

Satellite TV giants DirectTV  and EchoStar
Communications  said they have agreed to
offer their customers Clearwire’s  wireless Internet service later this year.

Financial terms of the deal, which also allows Clearwire to offer the video
services of one or both satellite companies to its customers, were not made
public.

But the deal is highly symbiotic; DirectTV, EchoStar and Clearwire will now
all be able to offer customers high-speed Internet, video and voice as they
seek to pry market share from Cablevision, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and
Comcast. Those vendors have enjoyed great success selling customers cable
TV, phone and Internet packages.

Specifically, DirectTV and EchoStar will be able to sell Clearwire’s
high-speed Internet services to their residential customers as a bundle with
their own satellite, or on a standalone basis. In turn, Clearwire can sell
its customers DirecTV and EchoStar satellite video services.

“Our ability to offer Clearwire’s broadband service is a strong competitive
alternative that we believe will help increase our subscriber base,” said
Nolan Daines, senior vice president of strategic initiatives for EchoStar,
in a statement.

Clearwire President and COO Perry Satterlee was similarly buoyed by the
deal.

“By expanding the reach of our services through DIRECTV and EchoStar, and by
incorporating direct-to-home satellite video services in our own
distribution channels, we believe we have an opportunity to significantly
expand our business opportunity,” Satterlee said in the statement.

Clearwire, launched by cell phone pioneer Craig McCaw, currently has 258,000
subscribers in 39 U.S. markets for its wireless technology, which is not
unlike WiMax .

According to the Wall Street Journal, Sprint Nextel is mulling
a deal with Clearwire to fortify its $3 billion planned rollout of a
wireless network.

DirectTV meanwhile is the nation’s leading satellite television service
provider, with more than 16 million customers in the United States;
EchoStar’s Dish Network pipes TV via satellite to roughly 13.4 million
customers.