Charlie Ergen, owner of DISH, has been purchasing spectrum for some time now in hopes of one day being able to provide DISH’s 14 million subscribers with the next big thing – wireless tv. The technology is still being created, but recently there has been some talk about the service becoming available in the near future. This raises the question of what would wireless TV do to the TV industry?

Let’s start with how it would affect satellite TV – DIRECTV would have a whole new competitive playing field to consider. Even if they were able to access the wireless technology, they wouldn’t have access to much spectrum. And let’s not forget about the possibility of a Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger. If the cable TV companies merge, it may be in DIRECTV’s best interest to push for a merger with DISH. And with DIRECTV being number 1 in the industry, a merger would be a good idea for DISH as well.

Cable TV providers will obviously be impacted as well, if not more so. Wireless TV would be more attractive to all consumers despite their thoughts and feelings on cable versus satellite TV. The same spectrum that DISH would use for wireless TV would also allow DISH to offer faster internet and cell phone service. This is a leg-up from cable providers who can only offer broadband internet and home phone service.

This all may be in the back of Comcast and Time Warner Cable’s minds as they are currently trying to merge. The merger wouldn’t give them the opportunity to offer cell phone service, but it would be in their best interest to have a bigger customer base to build a relationship of trust and quality service with before DISH launches any wireless products that may steer their customers away.

Getting back to the wireless concept though, how would that affect service? For one thing, satellite TV customers could get rid of the satellite dish that is currently required for service from DISH and DIRECTV. Secondly, DISH would be in a position to potentially offer phone service. Ergen has already tried buying out Sprint for this capability, but failed – and moved on to bigger and better things. Sign up with DISH Network now and be one of the first with this new technology when it becomes available!

According to the New York Post, it has been rumored that DISH will be purchasing the $1.56 billion H Block of spectrum. The purchase would move DISH into the 5th largest spectrum owner slot. The H Block could put DISH into a position of being able to potentially compete with lower spectrum owners such as Verizon and AT&T (nypost.com). And just to give you an idea of just how large the H Block of spectrum is, Washington split the country into 176 districts under the one block – and DISH would take them all with this purchase.