Industry Feeling Presence of the 800-Pound Google

AT&T hears an EchoStar

News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch will continue to be at the forefront of the major media giants' push into new media. But his short attention span will begin to get the better of him as his last pet project -- DirecTV Group Inc., the nation's leading satellite provider, which he purchased two years ago -- begins to struggle in the face of cable's superior bundle of products. Murdoch will consider taking a run at DirecTV's chief rival -- EchoStar Communications Corp., operator of Dish Network -- to increase his capacity for providing video enhancements such as high-definition TV.

But he will remain on the sidelines when phone giant AT&T Inc. (formerly SBC Communications) expresses interest. In a bid to provide television in addition to phone and high-speed Internet service, AT&T will abort its high-stakes gambit to wire the country and will buy EchoStar for $20 billion instead.

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Times staff writer Chris Gaither contributed to this report.