DirecTV Backpedaling On Wireless Broadband?

Wireless

from the softly-softly dept

DirecTV’s been talking for a while about its idea to create a nationwide broadband wireless network. It’s supposed to detail its plans sometime before the end of March, having already said it was in talks with rival Echostar about partnering on the network. But in a Wall Street Journal article today about DirecTV’s new video-download service, its CEO says “it’s not clear” if the company will actually build a network, and will only do so if the move makes sense. That sounds like some pretty serious backtracking, given the way he and News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch have been talking up to this point. We’ve been a little skeptical of the plans, noting that the $1 billion figure the company has said would it spend really wouldn’t go that far in building out a huge wireless network. It’s hard to imagine that DirecTV would come this far and talk its plans up so much, only to back out at the last second — so who are they posturing for?