Verizon's Seidenberg quells DIRECTV acquisition speculation

Even if purchasing DIRECTV could make it the number two video provider second only to Comcast, Verizon's CEO Ivan Seidenberg is saying 'no thanks, but we're okay.'

This reaction came in response to a question from Reuters during a NASDAQ conference on corporate governance last Friday. "There's nothing to that," said Seidenberg. "We don't have any strategic need."

The idea that Verizon could potentially buy DIRECTV came up in September when a Wall Street Journal article suggested [1] that buying the satellite company could not only help them expand their desire to make video a core part of their bundle, but also gain another national marketing outlet. More recently, Liberty Media's spinning off of DIRECTV has prompted new rumors that Verizon could be a potential suitor for the satellite company.

For now, Verizon continues to be committed to its DIRECTV partnership and its ongoing FiOS TV rollout. Verizon says it's on track with its own Fiber to the Premise-based FiOS TV offering, which could reach [2] an additional one million subscribers for 2009.  Meanwhile, Verizon's counterpart, AT&T, reported that it just reached [3] the two million IPTV subscriber mark.

For more:
- Reuters has this article [4]

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