Dish

Clearwire delays Sprint takeover vote for review of Dish offer

Clearwire has decided to delay its shareholder vote on Sprint's takeover proposal in order to review Dish Network's surprise revised offer.

The wireless broadband provider had initially scheduled a special shareholders meeting for Friday to hold a vote on the proposal, but the company announced Thursday it had rescheduled the meeting for June 13. While the company said it has not changed its recommendation that shareholders accept the current Sprint bid of $3.40 per share, Clearwire said Dish's revised proposal "appears to be more actionable than Dish's previous proposal."

Dish upped its ante in the bidding war … Read more

Dish increases offer for Clearwire to edge Sprint

Dish Network has upped the ante in its bid to acquire Clearwire, an escalation of its bidding war with Sprint Nextel over the wireless broadband provider.

A week after Sprint boosted its offer to $3.40 a share for the 50 percent of the company it does not currently own, the satellite TV provider countered on Wednesday with an offer of $4.40 per share in cash, a 29 percent premium over Sprint's offer. Dish will officially tender the offer before the Clearwire shareholders meeting on Friday, where a vote on Sprint's offer is planned.

Sprint announced in … Read more

Gmail tackles inbox clutter with tabs

CNET Update opens up a tab:

In this episode of Update:

- Avoid e-mail overload with new tabs in Gmail.

- Beautify photos before sharing with the updated Google+ iOS app.

- Choose to log into websites and apps with your Amazon account.

- Weigh the value of a Amazon Prime membership now that its creating five original shows.

- Watch a show and get tweets on the side with the new social app for the Dish Hopper.

- Give BlackBerry keyboard addicts a new fix on June 5, when T-Mobile sells the BlackBerry Q10.

CNET Update delivers the tech … Read more

Dish Network dishes out social app for its subscribers

Dish subscribers can now combine a bit of social networking with their TV viewing.

Available starting Wednesday, Social is the name of a new app for Dish's Hopper Whole-Home DVR that lets people watch a show and follow relevant posts or comment about it at the same time.

The app taps into both Twitter and Facebook.

Dish subscribers can follow a Twitter feed related to the show or channel currently being watched. They can access their own Twitter feed to tweet, reply to a tweet, favorite a tweet, or retweet someone else's post. They can also log into … Read more

Sprint, SoftBank reportedly reach security deal with U.S.

SoftBank and Sprint Nextel have reportedly agreed to give the U.S. government veto powers and other oversight to alleviate national security concerns related to their planned $20 billion merger.

As part of the agreement, expected to be finalized in the coming days, the merged company would feature a four-member national-security committee, as well as a security director who would sit on the wireless carrier's board, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. government would gain veto powers over any equipment purchases made by Sprint, and Sprint has agreed to remove Chinese-made equipment … Read more

Sprint CEO: Clearwire offer our 'best and final' one

LAS VEGAS -- Sprint's sweetened bid for Clearwire represents its "best and final" offer, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told CNET on the sidelines of the CTIA Wireless show here Tuesday.

"You can take that to the bank," he said.

Sprint earlier today raised its offer for Clearwire to $3.40 a share, valuing the company at $10.7 billion. The offer is a substantial premium over its original $2.97 a share offer, and 10 cents a share more than Dish Network's competing bid for Clearwire.

Clearwire shareholders had been agitating for a better … Read more

SoftBank grants waiver for Sprint to talk more to Dish

SoftBank made a bold move in its ongoing battle with Dish to acquire Sprint. The Japanese wireless carrier gave Sprint a special waiver on Monday to let it go into more broad talks with Dish.

While this seems counterintuitive, SoftBank said that it believes further talks between Dish and Sprint will only show the U.S. wireless carrier that SoftBank is the superior candidate for the acquisition.

"We continue to believe that our agreed transaction, which we plan to close in approximately six weeks, creates substantially greater value and provides far greater certainty for Sprint shareholders," SoftBank Holdings … Read more

Dish said to bid $2B for Lightsquared spectrum

LightSquared's wireless spectrum could be getting a new owner, according to a new report.

According to Bloomberg, Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen made a $2 billion bid last week for LightSquared's radio frequencies, which are owned by private investment firm Harbinger Capital Partners.

Bloomberg added, based on unnamed sources said to be familiar with the deal, that LightSquared has until the end of the month to make a decision.

Dish is already bogged down by other networking and communications deals floating around -- namely a $25.5 billion bid for Sprint Nextel. The nation's third-largest mobile provider … Read more

Dish to sell $2.5B in debt to fund Sprint bid

Dish Network plans to sell about $2.5 billion in debt to help fund its proposed takeover of Sprint Nextel, the company said Tuesday.

The proceeds from the offering will be placed in escrow and will then be released to finance part of the funds needed for the $25.5 billion Sprint acquisition. If the proposed merger falls through or doesn't take place before a certain date, Dish plans to redeem the notes.

Dish and Japanese carrier SoftBank have been battling for Sprint for the past couple months. SoftBank in October offered to pay shareholders $12.1 billion and … Read more