Dish CEO Charles Ergen had stated explicitly that he didn't believe his company could compete with Netflix, citing the "formidable and insurmountable lead" held by the online streaming content leader. Not soon after, Ergen announced he would be handing over control to Joseph Clayton, an Ex-Sirius CEO. The new CEO has different plans for the satellite TV company, and they do indeed revolve around going after Netflix's sizable marketshare.
Clayton announced his intention of battling Netflix in an interview with The Associated Press, alluding to an altogether "new model" of content distribution that would leverage new Dish acquisitions now at his disposal, including its $320 million buy-out of Blockbuster in April.
"The basic building blocks are in place to add additional ones on top of it for... a landscaping change in the industry," Clayton told the AP. The incoming exec admitted, however, that he didn't "have it all figured out yet."
Just weeks ago Netflix CEO Reed Hastings predicted such a move from Dish during a company earnings call, admitting that while he didn't fully grasp the scope of Dish's plans it was unlikely the company had spent hundreds of millions of dollars on Blockbuster for nothing. A letter to shareholders spelled it out more clearly: a "substantial subscription streaming effort" from Dish and Blockbuster was expected at some point in the future.
Clayton, in an attempt to get people speculating and seemingly shoehorn in as many puns as possible, said "If I were them, I'd be watching what's going on. I'd stay tuned. Because no one's going to have a monopoly on this and I'm sure it's not just our company that's looking at trying to take a small piece of the pie from Netflix." (Via Home Media Magazine)
