ergen is probably warm-up most difficult things to do there still mike some antitrust, though it's hard to imagine, and there's going to be pressure on that business that is the future for dish, which is mainly creating a 5g nationwide network, which they have said they will go, and raising enough money to fulfill that promise. >> it's so expensive. >> yes yes. >> i mean, we have the cash flow to build it out the way that verizon does. >> that's the key point, jim there are ways to do things that aren't perhaps as expensive. you don't have to be quite as robust in certain areas, by it's a lot of money,enes at the lowest monies -- it depends on who. i haven't had a chance to talk to mr. ergen, and again, no comment on whether -- i thought he would have sat down and done something. i've always enjoyed that i enjoyed his company a great deal i'm glad i never had to negotiate a transaction with him, though. >> for instance, the apple story, came and went >> what's the point on that? >> i think this football package is worth a fortune. >> i see >> we're talking about the number of people who

that was sold to charlie ergen's dish. however, under the terms of the agreement -- the deal, dish does not have the network yet built out. it still has to use t-mobile's network. that network is a 3g network, okay in now, here's where everything gets interested. according to charlie ergen, t-mobile was supposed to keep that 3g network for three years. according to, the noble, nah -- t-mobile, we are upgrading to 5g because that's what the government wants. according to charlie ergen, if you're throwing people off their 3g network as soon as the, at the end of this year, which is pretty soon, those people are going to have to upgrade their devices. they're poor people. they might not be able to afford it, and now ergen is making his plea not just to us. we heard it through the grapevine, we were talking about it, he has now written officially to the fcc on this. the biden fcc, we should point out, is much more free market -- is different than the trump fcc. from what we you said, the fcc is now engaging, and they may put p

so charlie ergen buys boost, but those customers still need the t-mobile network because charlie ergen hasn't built his network yet. in the midst of all this stuff, they're supposed to have access to a low-cost 3g system for their phones. this is people who are lower income, flip phones, things of that nature. but what's going to happen is at some point because t-mobile is moving to a 5g scenario, all those customers from boost will get cleared out of 5g network -- which is supposed to be good because it's super fast, but it's going to cost them money because their flip phones are not compatible with 5g. under the terms of agreement, they were supposed to have, like, a year or so to make that transition. ergen is saying t-mobile is forcing them off immediately, in the next couple months, and that's where the battle is brewing. the fcc is involved here now, from what we understand. and now what we understand, there is, there's been some movement for the two sides, meaning t-mobile and dish to patch things up, to have charlie ergen, from what we understand, meet with mike sievert, the ce

. >> charlie ergen is saying, no, that's not true. you knew that as you converted to over that boost customers would face price increases because, again, a lot of them don't have iphones, right? they have flip phones, they have less sophisticated devices. you knew that, that's why you had a grace period til 2023. and, by the way, this is a big part of the merger. without this part of the merger, not even the trump administration doj would have approved it. liz: right. >> so this is where you could see the biden administration get involved here, and it's going to be an interesting issue. we put peter adderton on, the former ceo of boost, and pointed this out. and then you had sievert on and then literally all hell broke between dish and t-mobile. good job. [laughter] liz: that's what they're there for. claman and gasparino just spreading sunshine. charlie, thank you very much. charlie gasparino. all right, check it. we're talking about sports betting. ma madness. oh, guy -- march madness. we've got the ceo of fanduel on that, big games

the initial thought was that apollo would team up with dish, charlie ergen's dish, to form some sort of joint venture, and include at & t in the spinoff of directv because at & t wants to keep some ownership stake in this, because remember, they're not going to recoup the entire $49 billion to $67 billion, however you value this, with the debt, that's what they bought it for, directv, in 2015. so here's what we know about apollo. from whant i understand, apollo bid about $12 billion. they are unlikely as of now, this could change, unlikely to rebid. this is where they are. they are not looking to get forced to up their price. there is some feeling on the apollo side that lots of news leaks out there are forcing them to bid a little higher, that there's other potential stronger bidders. the other thing i hear is that as of now, again, this could change, they are not interested in joining up with charlie ergen's dish. there's not a lot of, let's put this viably, a lot of chemistry between the two companies, apollo and charlie ergen's dish. so if they are going to do something, they are

ergen's dish. from what we understand, apollo at least for now is not interested in doing a deal that involves dish but it is interested in doing something with at & t where it would pay something along the lines of $10 billion to $15 billion as part of a partnership. again, nothing like the $67 billion they initially sold for, gives you an indication of just the long road back at & t has to deal with some of its debtload which is in the multi billion dollars, if they can't get rid of directv for anything close to what they bought it for. it looks like apollo among others is interested. back to you. neil: charlie gasparino, thank you very very much. just updating you again on this intergalactic event i have been talking about here, but it is a unique event of this christmas season to see something that many claim that the magi saw visiting jesus all those years ago on the first christmas, that at least is the religious lore. this is concerning jupiter and saturn appearing the closest they have ever

oh, charlie. it's always a soap opera with charlie ergen. thank you so much. >>> when we come back, the $277 billion man, ernesto ramos of bmo joins us as we watch to see will the dow close at or above 30,000? we are at 30,024 with six minutes left to trade. you got to stay with us. when i was in high school, this was the theater i came to quite often. the support we've had over the last few months has been amazing. it's not just a work environment. everyone here is family. if you are ready to open your heart and your home, check us out. we thought for sure that we were done. and this town said: not today. ♪ damom, look!get and thisare you okay??t today. head home this holiday with the one you love. visit your local mercedes-benz dealer today for exceptional lease and financing offers at the mercedes-benz winter event. i love my job because the closing bell ringing four minutes, we, you and i are about to witness dow 37 to become reality. 30,000 53. s&p muscle and the dow are close to record closes. in fact, we are there. let's go. portfol

charlie gasparino has exclusive news on ergen's losing hand. this is moving the stock, charlie. charlie: yeah. you know, he may have lost this hand, but this whole sordid story, i'm going to unpack it a little bit, give me a few minutes here, is why you still want to be playing cards with charlie ergen and why people hate negotiating with him. there's lots to talk about. at & t teaming up selling its directv subsidiary to dish in some sort of joint venture. they're not crazy to deal with charlie ergen. he's a wild man. here's what happened. back in 2015, he bid on $12 billion worth of spectrum. he bid for it through two companies which he claimed at the time he was only tangentally related to. he didn't have control over it. thus, he got a small business discount from that. knocks $3 billion off. follow me on this. the government comes back and says no, you really did control it, he sues the government, it goes back and forth, he gets fined $500 million. in the end, the d.c. circuit court says no, no, let's give charlie one more class and bounce this back to the fcc to see if he

if charlie ergen owes $3 billion. dish, you know, we're not talking apple here in terms of cash on hand. it's a company, you know, it's doing okay but that would be a big chunk of change for its balance sheet. we should point out that ergen is likely to appeal this ruling by the fcc which has not been made public. i confirmed it through my sources. good chance he's going to lose and the reason why is because this was bipartisan. all five commissioners, i think there are two democrats on the commission right now, voted, put their numbers down on charlie ergen. big story for dish. it's a big corporate story, has a laot to do with 5g and its development. we will be following developments on this throughout the day. we have a lot on our plate with the economy and the pandemic and the potential vaccine but 5g is a huge story and charlie ergen is in the middle of it and right now, his hopes of creating a 5g carrier, major one, hit a major roadblock. back to you. neil: thank you, my friend. he's a wily character. i have a fe

ergen giving us bits and pieces whether he's bring in a huge capital infusion to help as well continues to be a key question >> gotcha. >> we have to get to you and bob, so i'll send it over to you. >> yeah, yeah, to your point on chips, jim, all those names you mention ready helping to lead the s&p, up 3% plus. on restaurant news, we got chipotle opening their first digital only restaurant. and, of course, on food in general, jim did have beyond meat last night talking about their business, the quarter, the surprise mcplant, takea listen >> i want to be very respectful of what mcdonald's is trying to do i believe in the mcplant platform and what chris is trying to do there only reason we issued some clarification is because of the misunderstanding that people had around the fact that they maybe developed their own burger, which is not the case. as i said before, we have to be patient on this, i believe our relationship with mcdonald's is very strong, we're involved with mcdonald's on a number of different fronts, we're doing things now to prepare for things in the future that involve m

at&t is not interested in banging their head against the wall to get charlie ergen to do something. there is no conversations about that but it doesn't mean that a buyer of this asset, let's call it 30% with governance rights wouldn't have the desire to try to get mr. ergen to come in, to sell, and then at&t might actually either exercise its ability to sell the remainder or something along those lines. we'll keep an eye on that. by the way, i'm told there may be a couple of other assets included there we'll see u-verse assets as well, not sure and you're not going to see a huge check written to at&t given where the value of this thing is at this point, seen below $20 billion, not to mention they're only going to be selling a minority stake they will transfer some debt, could be as much as levered at 2 1/2 times current ebitda as well that's an update, jim, on directv. i have nothing to help you in terms of your actual -- >> help me here, at&t, they got a 7.2% yield, extraordinarily high, given where bonds are. what happens there they just -- >> that continues. the fact is, listen,

i haven't talked about it in a little while, guys, but don't forget charlie ergen is out there still putting together what is supposed to become at some point a nationwide competitor in the wireless market in 5g it may have a lot more enterprise applications than at least initially but the idea is to roll it out to consumers as well that was an important part of why the doj allowed sprint and t-mobile to get together in the first place. >> well, all i can tell you, carl, is that the football numbers a lot of people said they weren't good, the contest between the two october at that gentleman narian quarterbacks, brees and brady. biggest numbers since 2019 why is that bad? >> why is what bad >> the football numbers. they're pretty good. you can still reach people other than tesla, i saw all the ads for cars, tesla doesn't have to advertise because it's a technology company that sills cars seemed like everybody was back and it does seem like you can still reach people with live sports i think we are covering that it's going to be good for business so i don't know. i'm not as negative o

let me finish my part here, just get to dish because it is up this morning we all will await charlie ergen's conference call that will be later and always interesting and a focus will be on the wireless business you talk about t-mobile and what it is being able to accomplish in the united states, well, of course remember a key part of why the deal was allowed to proceed was not just boost, but a lot of other assets going to dish, to allow it to really create a fourth competitor in 5g nationwide that's going to take some time but we are all going to be listening closely to the call to see if there is any choice given at all to where they stand on that, whether there's anybody they will be bringing this to help write a huge equity check for the buildout or anything of that nature. as for sub losses dish didn't have that many, they're focused on rural mark. the numbers were only down 40,000 in the second quarter sling tv they lost 56,000. not bad. you can see a positive response in the marketplace but really for this company in the future it's all about the wireless play and the questio

there is some speculation doj even threatened to sue charlie ergen. again, we have run this by all parties. they are not denying that as well. the doj run by makim delrahim looks like that's how the deal got through. he intervened and we have been reporting that for the last couple days and it becomes official july 1. charlie ergen, amid all this, puts out a very terse filing with the s.e.c. last night confirming that this deal is going to happen, he's going to buy boost. we will have to see if he does sell spectrum to t-mobile, what that price was. maybe there was some behind the scenes deal. we don't know. this is still going on. i want to switch gears a minute before i toss it back to you and say that either today or tomorrow, the major league players are expected to come back to the major league baseball, to the owners with another proposal. again, this is drama, kind of like the t-mobile/sprint deal, it's never ending. time is running out on the season. the commissioner rob manfred is proposing a 60-game season. players want more games. i don't k

. >> charlie, mr. ergen who runs dish who is an integral part of the t-mobile sprint merger. let's first back up. last year doj finally approved the t-mobile-sprint merger. approved it with conditions. it's a huge merger, $26 billion. it es supposed to advance 5g which is the next big thing in communications there is a lot of reasons from a public policy standpoint you wanted these two companies to merge which stood a challenge from state ags which said it was anti-competitive because it created, got rid of a carrier. justice department was able to convince a democratic federal judge, democratically appointed federal judge that wasn't the case. as a matter of fact, that they're going to create another network. that other network was going to be created by none other than than charlie ergen, one of the toughest negotiators in the business and from what we understand, this deal while it is technically over, it is not over. it is still not through and one of the reasons why because that tough negotiator, charlie ergen of dish, is still negotiating. here is what we understand is

lot of people told him to watch out dealing with charlie ergen. he's a guy that's a very tough negotiator, poker player and likes to take things down to the last minute, try to get the best terms he can. so right now, what we do know is as we reported yesterday, t-mobile is putting out feelers for additional, maybe other buyers because it has to get rid of it, maybe private equity might be interested from what we understand. want to switch gears to the mlb. rob manfred, yesterday, the commissioner of major league baseball, confirmed our earlier report that there will be a season and as he prefers, a negotiated deal with the players. what does that mean? he doesn't want to impose the 50-game schedule which is a very short season, which he can under the march 2020 contract that he has with players. so what he wants to do is negotiate something. what we understand is that means he's going to come out with a counterproposal. we understand that counterproposal is likely to come tomorrow. the reason we have a draft right now. what will it be? it will be

they are frustrated at dealing with charlie ergen, i understand. nobody is commenting. they are not denying. but this is -- keep an eye on this. this could be a big story because if this deal doesn't happen, obviously t-mobile has to go out there and sell boost. what's really interesting, you would think they had this thing nailed down. apparently they never really had it nailed down. the writing maybe was in invisible ink. i can't tell you. one other thing i want to point out from an earlier report. we understand that major league baseball is right now working on a counteroffer to the players' last offer which was an 89-game season and full pro rated salaries. that is good news, if you want a longish baseball season because rob manfred, the commissioner, will impose a very short season if the two sides, the owners and players, can't agree on something and who wants a 50 game season with maybe no world series? they are working on something. again, this could change. keep an eye on this. we could get some ideas whether and how much we have a baseball season as early as t

now, i should point out this about charlie ergen. nothing is over until it's over with charlie ergen. he may be just jostling for better terms out of t-mobile. obviously the value of boost has fallen amid the pandemic. the pandemic and the lockdowns that occurred really hurt core people. they might not have the money to re-up long-term deals for their wireless. that's an issue for buying this company. he may be just looking for renegotiating terms but from what we understand, this thing as of now even though it has a july 1 deadline, is in limbo. nobody is denying this. what happens if he says no, i'm walking away? well, doj, s.e.c. can come after him in various ways. they can make him -- remember, he holds all that unused spectrum. he can give it back to doj or s.e.c. he has to use it or lose it and he's well past the deadline. that's part of the deal. there are probably other issues they can deal with him, negotiating in bad faith. but clearly this thing has hit some snag and the reason why you know it is because no one's denying i

ergen's dish as separate company which gives at&t some money and flexibility around debt. they can get rid of some of the debt. as you know at&t needs massive amounts of money at 5g buildout. they're still integrating time warner. this company has a lot on its plate. it doesn't need this albatross at least what bankers are saying. we should point out at&t has no comment. liz, back to you. liz: dish is up 5.8%. at&t up 2.1%. good scoop, charlie. >> yeah. liz: hearing about reopening of stocks that could benefit from the covid-19 pandemic finally dying down but our next "countdown" closer guest has three travel names. george young is here with three names he says should be in your portfolio right now. two of these are pretty well-known, stryker and j.b. hunt. talk about first hawaiian bank stock that would be a popular stock for people? >> hawaii economy based on military spending or tourism. not anybody going to hawaii anytime soon for tourism but they will in course. the slow and steady is military spending that is a good chunk of hawaii's economy. coupled with management

we'll merge it with charlie ergen's dish, another underperforming satellite operator, we can create a separate company. we can handle the debtload. it will be private. somewhat not under the microscope of shareholders to repair its business. that is the type of deal that bankers are saying that at&t will have to do now, given what is going on in the markets. as you know, at&t like every company right now is under tremendous pressure to cut costs. at&t's problem is even more acute because they have tremendous debtload in buying time warner and of course the legacy assets like directv. that is where we are right now. it is, this is coming from bankers. these are bankers that are pitching deals. this is a deal they're going to pitch. i can't tell you that at&t is going to go for it but they might not have much choice, at least that is what bankers are telling us. this is an asset clearly underperforming. they have too much debt on the balance sheet. they have a five -- 5g commitment and trying to inat that great time warner into their mix. there you have it. that is what the bankers are

and clearly, charlie ergen, who is in my ear? multiple people are attacking me. liz: that's called insanity. charlie: you think so? liz: early signs. charlie: you hear voices of different people? liz: yeah. just saying. charlie: i thought insanity was being on your segment once a day. liz: funny. i know you are but what am i? charlie: in any event, at & t would have to want to sell directv. liz: doesn't it? charlie: it's unclear. it's unclear. if you know something, something we reported on at the super bowl which was great, directv still has to maintain its relationship not because it wants to, with the nfl. it couldn't get rid of that sort of service that they give, the sunday ticket service, it couldn't sell it for the billions that it's paying for it. so this is an issue here. it needs to make money, it's losing subscribers. clearly the one thing that could bail it out and bail out dish is a merger of the two. remember, we were first to report that apollo approached at & t about merging, both directv and dish, into some sort of separate company. liz: i wonder

their main argument was -- listen, neil, their main argument was charlie ergen, who agreed as part of this deal to set up another wireless carrier, was going to sort of back-door the federal government and say no, i'm not going, and renege somewhere along the line. that's absurd. you sign a deal, i mean -- this is done. done. done deal. you can say this is a done deal. i use that term a lot around here when it's not really done. this is done. neil: when i was in new hampshire, several people asked about you. one guy watches religiously, said is charlie funny. i said funny how? charlie: like a clown? neil: no reaction out of the guy. charlie: that's new hampshire. neil: you got a lot of fans out there. charlie: really? you think i can get free drinks at a bar in new hampshire or something? neil: no, no. charlie: how is the food up there? neil: very good. wonderful people. salt of the earth. they value very much their unique role in this contest. they want to get it right. charlie: hopefully the app works. neil: low bar after iowa. charlie: are they using an app? neil: all right, thank

and charlie ergen's system which seemed to convince the judge as well he said dish's track record and numerous awards for customer experience and evidence, this is interesting for all of us trying to figure out will they have a partner evidence of the qualify deppial and creative strategic partnerships dish is planning suggests dish would compete as a disruptive maverick in the wireless markets offering low prices for innovative and high quality services guys, so many moving parts here this morning that we're going to keep an eye on, a lot more to talk about but that's the basics of this very important decision. california puc awaits, public utility commission of california still has to give its approval and we can talk a bit about the likelihood of a perhaps downward adjustment in the ratio as well to adjust for how bad sprint's business is. >> david, what was the risk/reward was very curious here >> yes >> seemed like in retrospect sprint was badly mispriced >> it was. >> the worst they were and the testimonies awater bad about the inferiorities of network, the more likely they get

inside the courtroom, the state ags took on charlie ergen, the head of dish. they basically said he's not a reliable guy to start a fourth wireless carrier. but you know, as you heard there, they are weighing all their options. john legere was much more optimistic about winning. he told me point-blank he thinks they won. both are very, very mum on whether they will appeal this. obviously this is a big, big deal if they lose, if they lose the future of 5g is at stake, if they lose the future of m & a in telecom is at stake. you are basically saying a minority of state attorneys general can overrule the federal government. remember, this deal has been approved by the federal government. so a lot is riding on this deal. if it happens, it's a big story. if it doesn't happen, if the states win, it's nuclear, liz. what we are talking about is every telecom deal is going to have to have some sort of legal notice in it that 13 state ags, minority of state ags, can stop the deal if they feel, even if the u.s. department of justice antitrust division approves it. that's

charlie ergen's firm. he will merge as a fourth competitor. they don't think the state's actually made the case. ashley: why not appeal? charlie: that said, wall street is saying we have a democratic jud judge, clinton appointee in the southern district of new york, that that is a negative for the case and so wall street is betting against it. now, the question is, does sprint and t-mobile appeal. if they think they have a good case. right now, they don't have a decision. i don't know what that means. it could be that they don't think they could appeal to the supreme court. they don't think they can get through, this thing through. it just could mean they think they are going to win. ashley: how important is this, sprint a minor player but how big for t-mobile? charlie: if this deal doesn't get done it will have major ramifications for wall street and washington. trump administration believes in order to put these two companies together, make a strong company, that will be a big, big plus for the creation of 5g which has national security and

again, charlie ergen, key to this trial. another source of i guess financing which is key to his buildout which apparently he's eyeing the big tech companies. ashley: charlie gasparino earning his paycheck today and, by the way, a martini or two. i know you will run off and take up that offer. great stuff as always. appreciate it. >>> let's bring up the dow, s&p and nasdaq, all up anywhere from a third to half a percent. all of them will close at record highs if it stays this way. >>> now, the biggest name in rvs going along for the ride also. stay tuned for your fox business brief to find out why winnebago investors are hitting the gas this hour. and stars turning out to celebrate the final battle between the empire and jedi. will the box office be the ultimate winner as these warriors hang up their light sabers? that's coming up on "the claman countdown." cologuard: colon cancer screening for people 50 and older at average risk. i've heard a lot of excuses to avoid screening for colon cancer. i'm not worried. it doesn't ru

. >> i think that's true >> that the arguments put up, that morgan did a good job, charlie ergen, dish's founder, chairman, did a very good job, sort of in terms of giving credibility to the idea that there would be -- that he would be a real potential competitor and so we'll see we're not going to get a decision. >> why does it not get the coverage that it deserves since it determined probably most inflationary it could really change the cpi why don't people talk about it >> i don't know. you do >> incredibly important, the tower stocks ran yesterday, by the way. tower stocks i think it has to do with -- >> really? >> yeah. >> dish also had a nice move, a bit of a nice move. >> facebook reversed what newspaper is attacking facebook pull the negative piece. just -- >> an article today in the journal, of course, citing that big rally in biotech we talked about the overall rally in healthcare, related to elizabeth warren's poll numbers, but also when if comes to biotech, a number of successes, number oflarge, huge premium deals for smaller cap companies, by the big guys and i'm watching me

charlie ergen employees to be a fourth carrier to take the place of sprint. if you upend the deal, that whole framework dissolves. then there is a market implication. companies will not know, certainly you are a company, you want to merge. go to the department of justice, approve us. not only, if this thing gets upended, sets a precedent. not only get the u.s. justice department to sign off or ftc, you have to then worry about any number of states, here these are not all the states, a coalition of over 13, led by new york's leticia james and california, and ending your deal. that question mark will destroy deal-making on wall street and i'll tell you if you think of companies getting stronger through acquisitions it will make it a mess. it will really hurt u.s. 5g. i'm telling you i don't see the rationale that sprint is a strong carrier on itself. it has spectrum. combine it with a strong company like t-mobile, which is backed up by deutch telecom it -- neil: would it delay the whole 5g thing in this country, is that what you're saying? >> it would put a hug

dish is up 3.75%, as chief charlie ergen says he's got the mega-bucks needed to fund the building out of a new wireless network. but will that telecom titan actually keep up his end of the bargain? charlie breaks it on what's being telegraphed to him, next on "the claman countdown." any comments doug? yeah. only pay for what you need with liberty mutual. only pay for what you need with liberty mutual. con liberty mutual solo pagas lo que necesitas. only pay for what you need... only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ most people think as a reliable phone company. but to businesses, we're a reliable partner. we keep companies ready for what's next. (man) we weave security into their business. (second man) virtualize their operations. (woman) and build ai customer experiences. (second woman) we also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. like 5g. almost all of the fortune 500 partner with us. (woman) when it comes to digital transformation... verizon keeps business ready. liz: can we bring up peloton's stock? it's spinning in reverse after yesterda

which is continuing this morning, charlie ergen yesterday and today. >> fca. >> only what we have seen this morning, they recut the deal in part to try to deal with the national security review that conceivably would take place here in the united states. >> right, right. >> it is going to create the merger of fiat and chrysler and peugeot, one of the largest auto companies in the world >> and successful. >> you think so? >> i think so, yeah. >> a lot of costs can come out. >> yes. >> not about layoffs, but just costs. >> the layoffs story is rather amazing. the railroad layoff story, deet mand for layoffs by the analysts for fedex, the notion that industrial america and industrial world is not doing that well with the exception of one of the great stories, possible resurgence in europe. >> yeah, you have been talking a bit about what you think is a resurgence in europe if we do get or i guess we have gotten phase one of the trade deal, can we -- hasn't been signed yet. >> no, but -- >> until it is signed -- >> not only not signed, the chinese made no specific reference to this deal las

charlie ergen as part of the deal, how it got through the u.s. department of antitrust i will create a fourth wireless carrier. neil: he has to do that? >> he has to do that. this is why i think the thing could be settled today for all intents and purposes. if he convinces the judge, victor moreno, it's a judge, not jury trial he will be really a competitive fourth player, has a timetable, from day one, what lydia moynihan, my producer, her sources are saying will try to emphasize that, day one, dish will be a competitive force in the wireless business, if he can convince more rain know of this, he is convincing guy, also a very volatile guy. neil: eccentric. >> eccentric but poker player. he is known to walk away from deals at the last minute, but if he can sell this to the judge, t-mobile-sprint feels they take it over the finish line. so today's testimony is probably the biggest day. we have john legere up there, the t-mobile ceo. interesting guy, colorful, showed up in the magenta outfit and everything. we had the sprint former ceo who is now

you're going to have one witness and then charlie ergen, founder and ceo of dish, chairman of dish, will take the stand. gee, i wonder what he's going to say, yes, i think we're going to be a strong wireless nationwide competitor that's what one would imagine. >> there are cases where attorneys general from states have come in and blocked -- >> yes, there was somebody who sent you an email, when i said i was unaware of when the doj had agreed to a deal, and stated ags had come after one but there was a valero deal years ago. >> california blocked. >> yeah. >> pretty good. >> in this case, jim, i think people in the courtroom and i have not yet been able to attend, but people tell me they went in with the expectation that the judge would be perhaps sympathetic, certainly stto the states it could be an easy case 4 goes to 3, typical metrics to measure competition all in favor of saying you can't allow that but he has certainly taken his time in wanting to hear -- while the states made an adequate go of making their case, i'm told, listen, the judge seemed open to -- as he should, of course

charlie ergen's testimony, my view, more than my view, everybody's view that's watching this, is key. he's the head of dish. okay? if he steps up and says i'm going to do x, y and z, it's going to be hard to vote against this deal. if you are the judge. liz: just a few points away, i believe about eight points away from an all-time record for the dow. >> why does it say agreement? i didn't say that. liz: listen, peloton is up 2.25 -- >> why is it saying they reached an agreement? we don't know that. here's what they say. we can say they say they reached an agreement. liz: i agree with you. we don't know what's going to happen. the weekend is long. charlie, thank you very much. charlie gasparino. we'll be right back. ... no, it's not in my records. you've got a lot on your plate. deliveries. billy, come in. shift times. i just need to know if it's there. compliance. can i get your 20? for 100 drivers. doug... doug? and where is doug? he should be sleeping. so should you. just because you're married to my sister, you could lose this job, billy! this isn't working. introducing samsung co

you're going to have charlie ergen hit the stand and that will be interesting testimony because, of course, some of this is dependent upon the perception that will dish truly be a nationwide 5g competitor therefore the fourth competitor, also part of it is dependent on the view of charter and comcast, verizon's capacity, are they becoming a true competitor in wireless we're keeping a close eye on that keeping a close eye on the overall market as well we're off the lows already the press conference, 20 minutes from now. >> terrific, worth pointing out. >> yes i think that -- there are -- there continues to be, david, ridiculous trading in so many material stocks, believing we'll have an instant turn around in the economy. only people that told me about free port the last five minutes, jim, why don't you talk about free port? understand the deep cyclicals are very much in favor >> why free port why explain -- >> copper. >> right >> just because -- >> it is a parody. it is a parody we have so few pure industrial companies left, that's the one they turn to by the way, alcoa is not doing -- alu

ergen takes the stand at some point, executives from t-mobile. >> are you going to go >> i'll try to go, yeah. >> sketch? >> i will sketch, sure i'm the worst artist ever. i'll just draw a big circle with a couple of dots >> you did just talk about an untold story this deal, we're waiting for -- >> waiting, we're going to keep waiting. >> okay. >> for a long time. >> that's great. >> when it comes to waiting for a deal, don't wait for alexion to do a deal interesting story here this morning, they out elliott essentially, elliott was in there, we didn't know, and alexion this morning issues a long press release in which they basically say we had a constructive dialogue with all of our shareholders, and we recently engaged in good faith, with elliott advisers, and including their recommendation that we immediately launch a pro active sale process, and they say the board unanimously decided to conduct a sale process and would not be in the best interest of shareholders and the patients we serve at this time, however in the interest of transpaurn srency we it is important to hear about t

ergen, who they're going to be coming out saying are you really going to represent a significant player in the wireless market in 5g and therefore real fourth competitor and have questions about that should be very interesting but that's the key here. the leadership has been inconsiderably important, but many shareholders were under the anticipation he would not be here once this deal is either completed or not let's call it next spring into next summer. >> what i'm finding is that a lot of the component companies that do business with huawei have made it so that because of the strictures that huawei fell behind this is something that people didn't feel possible there are so many companies, american companies, that are embedded in 5g whether it be -- everybody -- qualcomm that is involved, micron is involved marvel tech is involved. they all have been held back i just think that if an american company wants to advance and do a lot with 5g, we know verizon is there talking, at&t is there talking, this is the company that they are positioning themselves as being the leader in 5g if you le

ergen who has to be a star witness there in some way, arguing that he's going to be a real competitor when it comes to na nationwide 5g. the wholesale agreement, it is going to be interesting and less than a month away from beginning and that will perhaps, you know, decide his fate too. that deal doesn't happen, then what happens >> wow. >> right >> that would be shocking. >> you talk about softbank, that would have an impact. >> sprint's balance sheet. it must happen remember when david said that time warner would really help at&t's cash flow how right you were this has to happen too that was a great deal. great american >> great american soul >> good for -- good for everybody. to see where at&t stock is. >> they had a good year. >> cash flow from -- >> first year not so good. this year was quite good >> they have done something for me lately, as opposed to your softbank. >> you're not happy with softbank, are you? >> the whole uber, wework thing got in his head. >> door dash. >> uber eats grubhub. then it connects to the restaurant somehow something happened there. >> door dash brou

by the way, charlie ergen will be a key witness in the states that are opposing the deal they have to bring him in to put him on the stand potentially or at least question their business model and whether or not that company, dish, is going to really be a competitor in a real way and be able to raise the billions upon billions that it into evidence to actually build out a wireless -- >> what did you get about the money? it's very unusual to see a stock go up. >> they raised the money they have a billion dollar rights offering. the right to participate and subscribe for shares on a pro rata basis jim says subscription will be 32.52. there you are, bow low where we are. it's not often you see a billion dollar rights move up in stock we got disney reporting after the close today. and that's going to be interesting, because there is an expectation on the part of some investors that you may get i don't know if this is the calls. some sort of eps range that incorporates their expectations and/or the losses that they will be dealing with as they launch disney plus. also some question about t

ergen's dish. we haven't talked much about, how they're going to get the capital they need, how much is going to be required for them to really roll out and become over the next few years a significant competitor in 5g but as for t-mon, you're right, 730,000 branded post paid additions, churn at record lows, so the numbers they're not looking bad. we all know over the last seven, eight years how much competition t-mobile has added to the wireless marketplace, but that continues to be one of the big contentions of the ags who were fighting this, saying, yeah, look how much competition they have added, when you put sprint together with them, you only -- you go from 4 to 3, what happens then so still a lot of questions. still a lot of questions and, by the way, questions as well for softbank, don't forget. the owner of sprint. some 80% or so and what would happen should that deal unexpectedly, because i think most people do expect it will eventually go through, unexpectedly be stopped by the judge if

gerigen, create that combination and conceivably create value ergen was at the goldman sachs, i spoke to him and other reporters afterwards, it did not sound like he is particularly focused on that, that is a possibility he always plays his cards close to his vest, it is often said he is a poker player. regulatory wise it's not clear something could happen, more to the point, dish is focused on a whether sprint can get the deal through the states right now where it will go to court and, b, creating national 5g wireless carrier. so, jim, directv has had a difficult time it's not near worth what they paid in 2014 it still does generate 4 billion in free cash flow. it certainly still helps it is unclear what kind of multiple they can get outside. it's a deterioratesing business. so at&t is simply not focused on this despite what the journal reported this morning. >> is there any chance that elliot, the activist here thinks it's poorly run and it could be run better it certainly could be run better and disposed of? i have it. i don't understandity does so poorly, i'm not kidding. >> well,

ergen said streaming is going to be a bit of a blood bath as companies load up on contentan undercut distributersp. >> how many streaming services have been announced at this point? >> at least half a dozen. >> apple tv plus this is just within the last few weeks. >> overall >> over all. >> at least half dozen >> my point, is any one person going to want -- >> what they're saying the average, the max will be around three, maybe 3.5 >> three or four so the consolidation of that number >> the economics are moving in the direction of what shareholders saw we saw with "big bang theory" and "seinfeld". >> shows 10, 15 years old are making this kind of -- >> they're good, bill. good tv! >> no young people are going to start watching ""seinfeld. you start with netflix at $12.99 and support would add services apple will be free when you have an apple device. going down in cost for consumers and going up in terms of their price for what it costs to get conten whoever holds their breath the longest will win here. >> for everybody, the deals that are going to happen in this space as this consol

other than charlie ergen to merge it and get economies of scale. liz: xm sirius? >> i don't know. we're talking -- yes, i agree. we are talking about tremendous pressure from elliott management, pressure coming from the president trump who could focus a boycott on directv because it's one of the problematic assets that they hold. by the way, they're just being sued today, i read is some suit that directv on their directv over the top service that they may have, you know, fudged the numbers of subscribers there. so, you know, you've got trump bearing down on them, you've got elliott bearing down on them. but the stock is up because wall street is flooding randall stephenson, the ceo, with ideas including selling it to dish. liz: who won monday night football? >> who did? liz: cleveland browns. >> boo! >> by the way, since we're on football, can i make one point? this is the gordian knot, the hobson's choice, whatever you want to say, whatever cliche, if they don't resign with the nfl, they lose 10% of their subscribers. if they do sign, they pay $1.5 billion. by the way, the nfl ge

randall stephenson talking with bob bakish, the ceo of viacom, soon to be viacom cvs and charlie ergen is speaking from dish a lot of attention. >> we're looking forward to that, a lot of questions you might imagine from mr. ergen in terms of will he be able to successfully set up the competitor is he going to have partners so many different -- not clear what he's going to say today. >> how about aria manual full disclosure, this is kind of the picks and shovels and pans for gold that they're doing it for all this town. >> yeah. >> interesting this deal is coming public and not talked about enough in public filing yesterday could be an interesting -- >> i agree as you're talking, oil is down 250 as the reuters has a headline now, oil output will return to normal levels quicker than initially thought reuters citing two sources briefed on saudi oil. >> we have fake news then, earlier this morning it was going to be it is going to take longer the market is saying it is going to come in, should buy southwest air. >> i told you the curve says -- the curve -- continental is down >> oil relat

i don't know if they have subpoenaed charlie ergen and dish just yet. ergen and dish had no comment on this. the state attorney generals have no comment. we reached out to the new york state attorney general's office which is leading this. we understand they are compiling information on dish's financials to show that this company, even with buying the spectrum, with buying boost, with buying the prepaid aspects of the two merged companies, sprint and t-mobile to create a viable -- allegedly a viable competitor, attorneys general, yes, i know that, that even with that, that they don't have the financial wherewithal, they don't have the scale on the balance sheet to really be a fourth player. they are essentially going to argue that dish will be even weaker than sprint was alone which is pretty weak, by the way. sprint was not a big-time viable competitor. now, i can't tell you whether this is a good argument or not. it's going to go before the u.s. district court, federal court in manhattan soon. october is the date. it seems somewhat of a lift to me onl

we have dish out there, charlie ergen, the head of dish. you know, you know who charlie is and so does ajit pai, the chairman of the fcc, he was somewhat at odds with you guys over the unused spectrum for all those years. you guys wanted him to build-out something more than he was planning to do. are you going to demand any sort of guarantees that he actually goes through with building now that this deal has been final that he's going to actually build-out this network? >> yeah, the dish part of this was run out of the department of justice so i defer to them on the process i respect the way they run their organization over there. when you step back to your first point by combining sprint and t-mobile we can get accelerated 5g build to 99% of americans and getting that degree of build-out across the country is a real challenge outside of this transaction because to your point a standalone sprint, a standalone t-mobile didn't have the spectrum holding combination of the investment capacity to do that and that's why this entire deal is a big

charlie ergen says this reminds them of the time that they first enter that market in 1995 and there was a lot of skepticism about what they could do in that market. he is using that as an inspiration. remember, they have all of that spectrum they are obviously a nl cable operator. charlie ergen says this reminds them of the time that, but theyt a lot of support from sprint and t-mobile, particularly in the first roll up period. they are also getting a lot of sites that they would be decommissioning, sprint sites, and a network of retail stores. so they have been given the ingredients to go forward and build this. amber: thank you so much for that insight. our thanks to nabila ahmed on that story. sites that they would be decommissioning, sprint sites, and a networkas we saw, all of s are trading higher. tech is a big factor in the market broadly. president trump has been very vocal on a topic today on twitter, most recently vowing substantial reciprocal action against france after the french taxingnt signed a law tech a, including amazon and google. for more on the story, let's welc

they will create, charlie ergen will create his own wireless carrier. there is a lot of implications for the deal. we'll talk about some of the companies here first. there is a question whether dish can be competitive in this market. clearly they didn't sell too much spectrum to dish to make it so competitive that they were going to beat it. t-mobile and sprint. as a forth competitor will they become sprint which was troubled, had a hard time competing on price. watch dish's stock. they have already been downgraded. that is a very volatile chart. second thing you look at doj consent decree which is very interesting. lydia moynihan was first to point out. it was supposed to come out yesterday. it was delayed a day so the justice department can snare a couple state ags, they will not sue, join in the consent decree. that is what he did, he got five of them, he being, makan delrahim head of antitrust division got five state ags that to blunt antitrust case going on with other state ags. that is interesting. keep watch on this. the trump administration and

neil: charlie ergen is sitting on it. >> they would like a decree that he uses it. this might be in the consent decree. you might get in the consent decree for your penchant for pumpkin spiced lattes. neil: look at the time. the companies do not move unless they clear it with him first. we're by the way also focusing on microsoft. it's a trillion dollar company right now. it is coolest of the tech companies. one of the only ones not being targeted by the justice department, at least now, after this. a visual snapshot of your investments. key portfolio events. all in one place. because when it's decision time... you need decision tech. only from fidelity. who used expedia to book the vacation rental which led to the discovery that sometimes a little down time can lift you right up. expedia. everything you need to go. expedia. a cockroach can survive heresubmerged ttle guy. underwater for 30 minutes. wow. yeah. not getting in today. terminix. defenders of home. neil: stocks are down but business investment is picking up. the president's poll numbers are ticking up slo

ergen of dish and there are conditions dish just can't resell it in three years apparently he's going to hold on and build something they are worried he will sell to comcast or charter which is actually better competitors than dish would be to this new company, so they got some guarantees there. it'll be interesting if they do have to reprice the deal. obviously you got $5 billion in assets or so that's being sold that comes out of the deal, so it's got to be summary pricing, we'll see what that is and then there's that announcement, there's the announcement of the sort of economic ramifications, the anti-trust ram any indications so tomorrow is a big day for this deal. we should point out that a couple interesting sidelines here, and the state ag still opposed the deal from what i understand, but as of now they are still in opposition with a lawsuit going and other telecom companies are complaining about the merger. some telecom companies are telling fox business that they feel they have kind of a frozen out by doj and to make a better bid maybe. liz: oh. they wanted to jump into the

ergen of dish is going to do. he's going to buy these divested assets and it will be great -- neil: he's got to do something with them. >> apparently they are going to have him from lydia's reporting, he will have conditions on this. he will have to do something with it. he can't just resell it. there will be a timeline on that. also, what you will see out of the justice department is an economic rationale for this merger. we need this merger and it's what people in the white house and the economic staff, like larry kudlow and steve mnuchin will tell you we need it because these two companies together, a strong t-mobile/sprint, will be able to compete on price but also compete with the chinese in 5g. 5g is going to be a massive -- neil: 5g is at the epicenter of all this, right? they don't want anything that slows at least the united states. >> just so people understand it, 5g, this super-fast internet, is supposed to create a gazillion jobs and supposed to have national security implications. it's used in espiona