Charlie Ergen, founder and chairman of DISH Network, speaking to analysts following the company’s Q3 earnings call, stated that the much-discussed merger between the US satellite pay-TV operators was getting closer. He told analysts that merger discussions ahead of the upcoming mid-term elections were difficult. “You’re hesitant to be a political football for somebody to […]
Charlie Ergen, co-founder and chairman of DISH Network and EchoStar, also controls CONX, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company. Ergen now wants to combine CONX with Dish’s retail cellular operation, Boost Mobile. CONX, in a statement, says it will hold a special meeting of shareholders on October 31st to vote on the plan and in particular […]
DirecTV is arguing that rival Dish Network’s planned 5G signals will interfere with its DTH signals over North America. Dish Network, backed by Charlie Ergen, has invested heavily in winning licences for 5G terrestrial cellular networks in the US. DirecTV has told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that Dish Network’s mobile 5G signals “would cause […]
Terrestrial 5G telephony in the US wants to use the 12.2-12.7 GHz wireless band. The problem is that satellite operators also use the same frequencies. OneWeb, a would-be satellite constellation, in a letter to the Federal communications Commission (FCC) on July 11th argued that the FCC should reject Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network plans to use […]
Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network pay-TV platform suffered a major stock-market hit on May 6th and damaged by news of a thumping 462,000 net subscriber loss during its Q1 trading. Dish’s share price fell 19.4 per cent by the close of trading, and a 52-week ‘low’ and with shares actually trading at $19.57 (compared with $47.05 […]
Charlie Ergen’s EchoStar finished the year “with a thud” according to a report from Quilty Analytics. EchoStar has as a subsidiary a fast-growing business in Hughes Network Systems. But despite this benefit the end-of-year results were a disappointment. Hughes service revenues decline some 2 per cent and representing the first fall since EchoStar acquired Hughes […]
Charlie Ergen, speaking to analysts following his company’s results announcement, said that without a merger between DirecTV and his own DISH Network the risk is that transmissions from the tow pay-TV operators “will just melt away”. Ergen repeated his previous statements that a merger was inevitable. “The regulatory reasons to not allow [a merger] don’t […]
Michael Dugan, President & CEO at EchoStar, is retiring after 30 years of working with Charlie Ergen and the EchoStar/Dish family of businesses. He is being replaced by Hamid Akhavan. Dugan will remain on the board of directors and will serve as a strategic advisor to the company. Akhavan will take over at the end […]
At the moment, any merger plan between Dish Network and AT&T’s DirecTV is just behind the scenes talk. But it could happen, and if so, how would the pair start saving cash? The usual synergy promises will trim head-count and the marketing and advertising budgets would be trimmed. But what about those orbital assets? The […]
AT&T’s DirecTV and Charlie Ergen’s DISH Network have reportedly resumed talks regarding merging their DTH operations – and a deal could be close. The New York Post says it has learned that discussions are again taking place despite past anti-trust concerns that such discussions would never pass muster with the competition authorities. The Post says […]